R E S E A R C H - C R E A T I O N I N P R O G R E S S   Electric Preparations an ensemble of pieces for prepared electric guitar composed and played by Bruno de Chènerilles A first approach of this work, Study Nr 1 for electric prepared guitar and digital sampler was selected at the International Competition of Electronic Music in Bourges (France) 96. work in progress - release not yet fixed introduction Electric guitar is an electromechanical instrument : a mechanical action - the strings' vibration - is transformed by the instrument itself - through its microphones and its resonant body - in an electric signal. In the seventies, some guitarists - mostly improvisers like Derek Bailey, Fred Frith, Hans Reichel or Eugene Chadbourne - developed techniques of preparation for the guitar. Inspired by John Cage's prepared piano, they extended the initial possibilities of the instrument, conceived to produce percussion and resonance type of sounds - like the piano... These extended techniques were : - mechanical: bringing into contact the strings and diverse manufactured objects: drum sticks, bottlenecks, - from the tradition of blues - , pencils... in wood, metal, glass, rubber... - electronic: plugging the guitar in analog effect pedals coming from rock guitar: volume, delay, distortion, wha-wha... These guitarists accomplished a most decisive gesture : put the instrument on a table in order to have a horizontal playing surface, often widened by the use of two or even more guitars with different preparations. This sort of set allows the improviser to produce in real time polyphonies of most diverse sounds. These preparations also transform the sound of the guitar : envelope modifications - softening or suppressing the attack, sustaining or shortening the resonance of strings - , timbral transformations, noisy sounds, overtones enhancement, modulations, feedback...   electric guitar / computer music These instrumental practices directed my attention - as an electronic music composer and guitarist - to the electric guitar as a source of sounds for digital sampling. That was how I started Study Nr1... The purpose of this research is to compose an ensemble of electronic pieces exploiting this unique sound source - electric guitar - as an input , going through exploration of different sound creation , composition and interpretation systems. Any interaction between these systems are welcomed : guitar preparations with natural and manufactured objects, digital sampling, sound editing, computer composition, different interfaces - midi keyboard, midi controller for guitar, infrared midi controller... Different outputs to this work, too : recorded pieces, live pieces for guitars and samplers, the development of a scoring system for guitar preparation. Bruno de Chènerilles   Concerts, workshops and an enhanced CD in Audiorama's collection will be scheduled in 2000.   an interactive musicologic research beginning now We are beginning to document all styles of guitar preparations by improvisers and composers, special playing and scoring techniques, discographies and biographies of the artists... to be published here, on this web site, as a permanent and interactive research. We appeal to your collaboration in this project : to all of you, the musicians, the searchers, the writers and the audience. Please inform us on what you know, on what you are doing in this field. We need your material : music, pictures, texts...   research contact Bruno de Chènerilles audiorama@agat.net you can send your documents directly by email or by post to Audiorama BP161 67004 Strasbourg cedex France

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