Jean-Francois Charles

Since June 22nd, I have been a Teaching Assistant for the course Great Ideas in Computer Science with Java at Harvard Summer School . During the first two lectures of the course, Pr. Henry Leitner introduced important concepts through programming in the Scratch environment. With Scratch, the students can focus on the notions of algorithm, conditions, loops, variables, without being overwhelmed by a complicated syntax. Scratch is very fun to use and makes it easy to embed images, sounds, and mouse- or keyboard-based interaction. Check out some examples of Scratch programs in these Galleries . At the MIT and at Harvard, you may often hear that " Anybody Can Learn To Program " (in the great book How to Design Programs: An Introduction to Programming and Computing , the authors push a little further: " Everybody Should Learn To Program "). With Scratch, " Everybody Can Learn To Program Fast ". Scratch and Max MSP versions of a simple interactive musical pr...

Maybe you know already James Ingram, who wrote Michael Jackson's PYT with Quincy Jones. But today, I want to invite you to visit the new web site of another James Ingram , who worked during a long time as Karlheinz Stockhausen's personal engraver. James Ingram enabled Karlheinz Stockhausen to reach the quality of engraving he wanted for his scores. Have a look at some excerpts . I particularly like Michaels Reise um die Erde and Xi for basset-horn (I studied this piece several years ago - the fingerings are given for a Leblanc basset-horn, but it's easy to find ones that work for the Buffet Crampon model). Scores are published by Stockhausen Verlag . Picture by Clive Barda, 1985, retrived from this Unsichtbare Chöre review .

During this summer of 2009, I am a Teaching Assistant for the course Great Ideas in Computer Science with Java at Harvard Summer School . Java may be the most musical of all computer languages... Don't forget it's also the name of a French dance : La Java Bleue (1938): L'accordéoniste (1942):

I want to congratulate and thank the excellent bassist Alex Tarbert, who performed the premiere of my composition for double bass solo Aqua Solo . Here is the link to listen to and download the track on last.fm: Aqua Solo - composition for double bass solo First part: arco Second part: pizzicato (starts after about 3 minutes) Have a look at the program notes, and a glimpse of the manuscript, on the concert announcement post. In case you are a bass player, and want to include a piece in a double bass competition or a double bass recital, don't hesitate to contact me!

Want to hear my French accent in San Francisco? Check out this short video ! If you feel like patching, I suggest: Gregory Taylor's brand new article LFO Tutorial 4: Building Complexity . a Max/MSP/Jitter patch to slice sounds automatically : I posted it recently with my other spectral patches ( 10-sliced-playback ).

BMOP reading my orchestration of Eddie Van Halen's Eruption The electric guitar solo Eruption , by Van Halen , is "considered one of the most influential rock instrumentals of all time" (see linked wikipedia article). This Spring, I had a lot of fun transcribing it into a 2-minute orchestral piece. I bought the CD Van Halen , along with the transcriptions Van Halen Best Of, Volume I (Best of Van Halen) . After analyzing the piece, I wrote the arrangement while paying a special attention to the orchestral playability. That's why I used very different time signatures than the ones in the guitar transcription book aforementioned. An Orchestration Course at Harvard This was my final project for a great orchestration class that I took this spring in the Music Department . Michael Gandolfi , Chair of the composition department at New England Conservatory , was teaching it as a special guest. With five other composers, we were lucky to study with this artist, very experie...

One year after the premiere concert, here is the video of Live Saturation : Live Saturation for flute and electronic music with Ruth Lepson's poetry This is the live recording of Mario Caroli's Harvard recital , that took place on May 24th, 2008, to the invitation of the Harvard Group for New Music. Mario Caroli plays Ivan Fedele I studied under Maestro Ivan Fedele during several years at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg . Mario Caroli is one of the best interprets of his music. That's why I'm happy to link to two video recordings with ensemble Algoritmo: 1. Notturno , for flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, piano, percussion, harp, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, and double bass. 2. Profilo in eco (first part) , for solo flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, piano, percussion, violin, viola, violoncello, and double bass. One more thing that I like in these recordings: the excellent clarinetist Roberta Gottardi is a friend since we played together the premiere and ...