Collaboratory Cine-concert - Percussion and electronics
Percussionists from the BL!NDMAN collective [drums]
Teaching team: Martin Matalon (composer), Eric Sleichim (BL!NDMAN artistic director), Serge Lemouton & NN (IRCAM computer music designers)
Videoconference meetings between December 2023 and April 2024
Preparatory session from Wednesday 21 to Friday 23 February 2024 at IRCAM
ManiFeste Academy Workshop: Monday June 10 to Friday June 21, 2024 at CENTQUATRE-PARIS
An inspired synthesis of instrumental music and the multiple possibilities of electronics, mixed music for solo percussionist and electronics offers a flexible, yet powerful profusion of sound. On one side, we have the rich palette of the soloist, with their dramatic presence on stage, their virtuosity, their rich sounds, their experience, their charisma... on the other, all the extensions of sound, timbre, space and time, as well as the possibility of superimposing several sound planes that electronics make possible.
Composer Martin Matalon and the BL!NDMAN [drums] collective are offering six young composers a cinema-concert workshop, in which they will create original scores for silent comedy films. Several composers will be able to share the musical setting of the same medium-length film. Others may propose different compositions for the same short film.
The workshop will take place in several stages:
Stage 1 - January 2024 - Introduction videoconference meeting with all 6 selected composers, Martin Matalon, Bl!ndman percussionists and teams, computer music designers and IRCAM teams. Each composer will then benefit from an individual one-hour online meeting with Martin Matalon to discuss the project proposed at the time of their application.
Stage 2 - Wednesday, February 21 to Friday, February 23, 2024 - Preparatory work session at IRCAM
- work on the short films to understand and integrate the film's structure
- analysis and work on editing, the keystone of musical writing
- a stage in which each trainee chooses the elements in each scene that will trigger one or more musical ideas
- exchanges on the question of the relationship between music and images, or how to create the illusion that the music is intimately linked to the film, even when it has a life of its own and a dramaturgy of its own
- demonstrations and listening to the "toolbox", an electronic environment made available during the June workshop
- exchanges with the percussionists of Bl!ndman [drums]
Once all these stages have been completed, the real work of composition will begin - balance between scenes, work on complementarity, sound planes, the premises of density / weightlessness - uniqueness / multiplicity - speed / slowness - exactness / diffuseness... in short, how to approach and work on the formal questions of purely musical discourse...
Stage 3 - March, April, May 2024 - Composition
- writing the instrumental score and preparing the sketch for the electronics. Discussions are possible with Martin Matalon (online meeting) and IRCAM's computer music designers (online meeting and e-mail exchanges)
Stage 4 - June 10 to 21, 2024 - Workshop at CENTQUATRE-PARIS - finalization of the electronics with IRCAM's computer music engineers
- rehearsals with Bl!ndman [drums]
- public performances on Thursday June 20 and Friday June 21, 2024
Applications
Candidates must:
- be born after January 1, 1992
- not have already participated twice in another ManiFeste Academy workshop
- be able to speak and understand English or French
Online applicationULYSSES Platform
Call for applications opens Tuesday, October 3, 2023
Application deadline Thursday November 30, 2023, 10am CEST
Personal reply by email Wednesday December 20, 2023
To apply, create an account (or use an existing account) on the ULYSSES Platform, complete your profile and click on "Apply" from the "MANIFESTE-2024 Collaboratory Ciné-Concert" call page, then:
- fill in your personal details (surname, first name, age, nationality, address, cell phone number, ID, ID photo to be used by IRCAM for access badges and other supports)
- write a short biography (800 characters MAXIMUM) which may be used by IRCAM for room programs
- list your educational background, professional experience, awards and grants
- present 2 or 3 recent works of your own composition, including at least one for percussion and two with electronics (mp3 audio and pdf score)
- download a questionnaire concerning your skills in electronics and computer music, answer it and attach it to your application
- choose 3 films from the proposed selection (1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice)
- write a cover letter presenting your composition project for the workshop, specifying the reasons why you have chosen these 3 films, and, if applicable, why you wish to collaborate with other composers from the workshop on the same medium-length film (maximum 1 or 2 pages)
Jury
The jury selecting the young composers will include composer Martin Matalon and BL!NDMAN artistic director Eric Sleichim.
Participation conditions for selected composers
Registration fee: 450€
For the preparatory session in February 2024, the Academy will cover travel and accommodation expenses for those who do not live in the Ile-de-France region. Travel expenses that exceed 400€ will not be reimbursed.
For the workshop period from June 10 to 21, 2024, the Academy will not provide scholarships. It will not cover any travel or accommodation expenses. Participants must find their own accommodation.
Successful composers must comply with the following conditions, failing which their participation will be cancelled:
- commit to writing a score (the score may be open to improvisation):
- original
- 5 to 12 minutes maximum, depending on the film (shared or not) assigned by the jury
- for percussion and electronics (two percussion sets will be determined by the pedagogical teams and communicated to the selected composers)
- to be worked on and performed without a conductor
- participate in a collective videoconference meeting with all 6 participants, the guest composer, and BL!NDMAN musicians at the end of January 2024
- participate in three individual video-conference meetings with the guest composer in December 2023, February and March to present, validate and follow up their project
- pay their registration fees no later than Tuesday, January 23, 2024
- attend a preparatory work session on composing for images at IRCAM from Wednesday February 21 to Friday February 23, 2024
- send their complete scores no later than Tuesday, April 30, 2024;
- prepare, in advance, the electronic material required for their project, in collaboration with IRCAM's computer music designers (exchanges by videoconference and e-mail)
- send their electronic part no later than Tuesday, May 21, 2024
- make any changes to their score requested by the teaching team
- attend all rehearsals of all participants and dedicated meetings of their workshop from Monday June 10 to Friday June 21, 2024 (every day from 10am to 6pm maximum, except Sunday June 16, public performances scheduled for Thursday June 20 and Friday June 21 at 8pm)
Composers who hand in their scores or electronic sketches after the specified date, who do not respect the instrumentation and graphic guidelines provided, or who are absent, even partially, during the workshop, will have their participation automatically cancelled without possibility of appeal.
This workshop is supported by the ULYSSES network, funded by the European Union's Creative Europe program, as part of the Collaboratory projects.