New video interface
I got banned from Youtube for unknown reasons (breaching the terms and conditions without further explanation), so I relocated the raspberry pi generated videos on ... a dedicated page
Over there you will find the latest work from the various visual functions, be it static photos or videos.
Hope you enjoy!
2018-07-11 // visuals, raspberry pi, photos, videox
Voyage
Come join me for a trip. A journey through places and time, with or without people, with or without yourself.
This voyage took quite some preparation but was worth it. Many encounters on the way, many more to go.
Yesterday there, currently here, tomorrow where? Life will tell. In the meantime, pick your favorite streaming page, sit back, chill, and enjoy a bit of cello :)
2017-11-04 // new album; voyage; release
Visuals
Experimenting with a bit of code over the past few months, you will see few results on my youtube channel here:
Gcello python generated Visuals
All this is coded in Python and runs on a Raspberry Pi. The initial aim was to mix learning a new language with having fun and striving to code a visual art generator that could ultimately used live during concerts. This direction slightly evolved on the way and pushed the learning experience a bit further: implement interfaces to programmatically interact with social media platforms. From tweet structure to OAuth2, some fractals and interference patterns ... it's a lot of fun!
Music and maths, algorithms and code ... drop a comment on the videos if you like or have suggestions to improve!
2017-02-16 // news; visuals; code
Creative process: How to write a song?
You may wonder what is the process behind composing the next Gcello tune. Don't go any further, you are on the right page. I will let you know how those come to life...
An idea, a key, a melody or a riff starts it all, it can start vaguely, a tempo or an atmosphere, a color or a scent that I wish to render and translate into music.
Then the choice of instruments. Will they be computer generated synths, or real instruments from my personal collection? What do I have at hand today? Any unused soundscapes on my recorder?
Laying out rough attempts and starting to combine them with samples.
At this point I have decided about the key of the song, its tempo and the building blocks: how many lines or instruments will be forming the song and a first idea of the structure emerges. Will it start with a long progressing intro? Will the beat kick in straight? 3/4, 4/4 or any other signature? By now I have the key decided.
It is now time to sit back and relax:) get a feel of the structure thus the length, and chord progression. Chorus bridge you name them... The backing track starts sounding like something, time to start introducing instruments and namely cello:)
2016-12-18 // news; creative process
Inactively active
Life ...Recent events kept me away from the stage. Yet, I could express myself through a keyboard and worked on the twitter bot.
Call it geeking, I call it learning. In this case Python, internet of things, marketing strategies ... cut the BS, the little box sitting in my living room has now more followers (snap! Waaaay more actually) than my profile and keeps happily tweeting messages, fractals, videos ...
It's an ongoing project that I would now like to take to a more graphical side. Data is everywhere, music included. So the next challenge will be the visualization machine.
Stay tuned, keep your ears and eyes wide open!
2016-08-17 // Twitter; @Gcellopi
Tweets and peeps
Just a shout out to all you twxitter users ... it's now been few months that I've been working on a project involving a bit of programming and microcomputers.
First outputs can bee seen by following @GcelloPi
This is a machine that will do much more in a near future. For now, it's automating some of my actions on Twitter and it's "trying to make things visually beautiful" (it feels on the verge of schizophrenia to quote a machine ... which basically roots its knowledge in what I set it up with).
Anyhow, time-based color fractals, heavily effected pictures from my living room, animated gifs and video reports as a first step (try it, it's interactive and should be polite enough to reply to your tags!) ... all this should then turn into a concert propaganda machine and music-based live visuals (who said an audience interaction device? :)
Stay tuned, follow @GcelloPi
2016-03-13 // twitter, iot, raspberry
Music
Music as a therapy, music as an art, music as a means of expression, music as an emotion...
From tribal ages, before speech was even technically possible for the lack of vocal cords, let apart conceived of by these times' minds, music existed in the form of drums. Nature and its thunder, rain drops on a hard surface, waves hitting the shore. Animals too contributed their part: Whales singing, birds twitting... Is our speech music to their ears too? Can we simply ignore physical differences and project the understanding through the scope of our perception on those other living beings?
Music as a reconnection with your senses, with time, its literal value and length is to be precisely counted to play as an ensemble but at the same time creates this bubble of focus when all the rest, dull time consuming obligations, worries and stressful event, stops existing for a while. You are one and here when you play, but you are more than the sum if playing as an ensemble. Reaching this state of unification, almost mystic trance.
Active or passive, I deeply encourage you to pick an instrument and start practicing today:) for the gratifying instants of mastering a piece, for the new friends you are going to make. For the good ol' places you have been going to for ages now reveal a different charm, from the stage perspective... To amaze yourself and the ones you love.. Because you don't like doing sports, and yet playing is a physical exercise too.
Music is tough. No denial that it teaches and values work. Repetition. Play, fail, repeat until you are in tune, in rhythm ... And yet again you will find another challenge: interpretation. How to keep the essence of a piece? How to transcribe the composer's intentions in notes, breathes, nuances...? How to remain independent from other instrumentalists, from other interpretations?
Music is a multi-dimensional journey that spans over technique, feelings and a bit of luck. This perfect instant you reach on stage when everything just sounds how it should, when you realize that not only you are enjoying the moment but a well transporting your audience to a different time and place. All this in 5 letters but so many more hours of hard work and dedication!
2016-01-22 // news; music
A little video memory
Please take an instant to have a look at this video taken from Georges Delerue's tribute concert in September.
Song: «Qui je suis», «La petite vertu» movie score
(Music: Georges Delerue - Lyrics: Jean-Claude Massoulier)
Vocals: Claire Delerue - http://floramiles.com/
Piano: Raymond Alessandrini - Deezer page
Cello: Mathieu Guillemin
On September 27th 2015, an intimate musical get-together was held at Georges Delerue's house near Paris to celebrate the 90th anniversary of his birth. We gathered around his Pleyel piano and performed some of his film songs, theater songs and instrumental themes. It was a joyful moment and a wonderful opportunity to make his house alive again with the sound of his music!
This excerpt features a song from the 1967 French film "La petite vertu", directed by Serge Korber. Raymond Alessandrini plays piano and Claire Delerue sings.
2015-11-09 // concert; paris; classical
Upcoming Gig! November 14th
I'd like to invite you to Gcello's upcoming gig Zicaforges which is going to take place on November 14th, 2015.
A total of 5 bands will rock the evening:
Gcello, Berti Vox, Eiliant, Kfé'in and Hasselblad, yes indeed it is a festival!
Salle Messidor - Address: 6 Rue de l'Église, 91470 Forges-les-Bains
2015-10-28 // concert
Back to basics!
I'm glad to announce that after years of playing here and there, and the list of venues has been great so far, Czech Republic, England, Bulgaria, ... I'll be playing in my hometown of Belleville Sur Saone at a private event on October 24th! A set of electronic music, spanning from down tempo chillout beats to more energized electro and drum and bass, own compositions and remixes. Looking forward to bringing the vibe to the People:) Stay tuned for more concerts coming up in November in or around Paris!2015-10-13 // Concert; Belleville
Gcello : Afterworks in Le Ptit Bar (23 rue Saint Sauveur)
Gcello aimerait vous convier au prochain afterwork violoncelle électrique à Paris. Venez déguster un verre dans une ambience chaleureuse tout en écoutant un concert live de violoncelle électrique. Sonorités électro, lounge et trip hop, un aperçu par ici:
Gcello - Le ptit bar (23 rue Saint Sauveur, à 5 minutes de Chatelet) - 1er Octobre 2015 à 20H - Entrée libre
Facebook:
2015-09-26 // concert; paris; ptit bar
Welcome to the Internet of Things world!
Arduino, Raspberry ... Would you like more fruits or vegetables sir?
I have to confess, I fell into the iot frenzy.
Let's speak about machines. I would like to share with you how pushing that micro computing door opened on a tremendously vast universe of ideas and opportunities. Few lines of code, you define a basic behavior, and you can then enjoy this autonomous show of 1s and 0s coming to "life". It becomes a delight to watch them machines as they start to "be".
Come with me, I take you on a trip to sensor land, to machine world.
Here is the concept:
What if the audience at a concert was not simply an audience? What if we could transform this experience into an active participation? Shout and scream, sweat and cry, dance and shake your bOO...cello, but what if everybody was an actor of the concert? What if as a matter of fact every concert was a truly unique piece of art? What if everybody was the artist, and what if the artist became the facilitator of a crowdcreated process? What if all this was on the internet and physical boundaries vanished? What if your favorite musician, painter, author or photograph allowed you to be part of the show, wherever you were on earth or beyond?
How can we achieve this?
A device senses what's around, a physical measurable quantity of the world, in this case limited to the microcosm of a concert. This measurement is transmitted to a receiving hub which interprets this quantity, those values, into something tangible, intelligible, interactive, meaningful and beautiful!
Let's put names on those concepts:
This arduino is the sensing device. Accelerometers, gyroscopes, temperature and sound pressure sensing is carried out on the device which then transmits the values over wifi to the hub, the Raspberry Pi. The Pi acts as a server and computing platform. It captures the data and shapes it into nice visuals before outputing them on the HDMI projector.
Wifi, did you say wifi network? Yes indeed, you guessed it right, at the tip of our fingers lay live streaming on YouTube, automated event promotion on Facebook or live concert feed on Twitter. By extending to those online communities, there is a lot more we could do to enhance this interaction between the audience and the artist. Or simply tranform the concept of the concert and make it an online happening too.
So I would encourage you so stay tuned if you have an interest in IoT, Machines talking to other machines, creative coding applied to live music and visuals.
2015-09-05 // iot; gcello; project
Georges Delerue homage - September 27th
Georges Delerue (1925 - 1992) is a modern music composer and conductor whose work was mainly oriented towards cinema and tv.
Yet, having composed for the great (François Truffaut, Louis Malle, mainy times nominated to Césars and Oscars, awarded Best original score in 1980 for the movie A Little Romance by George Roy Hill) his pieces for orchestra, chamber music ensembles, opera and ballets were remarked in the Fifties. He indeed conducted the National French radio symphonic orchestra (RTF), worked closely with the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet on the Concerto for four guitars and orchestra and more...
It is a great honor to have been offered to play the cello parts and arrangements made for this instrument at an epitaph concert that will take place in his former house on September 27th.
Together with his daughter Claire Delerue, on piano, guitar and vocals, we will interpret a dozen songs spanning from his early years to the most recent pieces of his repertoire.
2015-08-19 // concert; Paris
Welcome to Gcello's new website
You might have seen some major changes over the course of summer and I am glad that this new design has finally been released!
First and foremost, this is home-made. I would like to emphasize this point as we now tend to see a flock of all-looking-the-same websites based on wordpress, joomla or drupal. It's even becoming a game to guess which template is used ... none of this here, all coded on notepad in html, php, css and javascript.
Then, as for each and every new design, there will be bugs. So I would like to encourage you to drop me a line in case you find something is not properly working, not visible, not clickable ... please do send me a detailed description (your browser, your device, a screenshot) and I'll get back to work and will try to fix it.
I can be reached by email :
contact[at]gcello.com or on social networks : @GcelloMusic on Twitter Same story on facebook
Last but not least, if you want to try the time machine ... Check out the previous version of the site :)
2015-08-01 // website; code
Back to basics - Gcello in Lalibela - June 24, 2015
Come enjoy some electric cello tunes in Lalibela for Gcello's next gig!
Back to the roots, it is going to be a chilled evening to freshen up a warm summer in Prague ...
Electronic music, ranging from trip hop to drum and bass, together with live electric cello. Own compositions and few remixes.
Bring your good mood and friends :)
---
Holeckova 17, Smichov, Prague
---
Prijd'te se uzit dalsi koncert Gcello v Lalibele.
Chillova prijemna atmosfera, z trip hopu do drum n bassu. A nezapomente ze tam bude taky zive elektricke cello:)
Tak prijdte s kamosema a dobrou naladou!
---
Links: Facebook Event Lalibela
2015-06-17 // concert; Prague
Lounge à l'Alhambra
Une soirée lounge à l'Alhambra avec Gcello le jeudi 11 juin
Venez déguster quelques notes, siroter quelques accords et travailler votre descente de kicks, snares et hihats ... Violoncelle électrique agrémenté d'effets et musiques électroniques, des sonorités qui invitent au voyage.
L'Alhambra, espace lounge au premier, début du concert à 20h, gratuit.
Tous les détails
Design graphique réalisé par Cerny Grafik :http://www.cernygrafik.cz/
2015-06-06 // concert
KaossPad Mod
Here is the latest update about the KaossPad.
This little piece of wonder is surely fragile. And during one of my previous trip, the knobs got a bad kick and stopped functioning. So taking the time to open it and get some soldering practice, I used a bit of paint that was around to customize it a bit ...
And it is now fully working ... READY TO ROCK!
2015-05-15 // KaossPad; customization
Concert au Ptit bar - 14/05/2015
Le ptit bar de la rue Saint Sauveur, vous connaissez?
Une ambiance cosy, une équipé au top, des bonnes bières et cocktails, le tout en musique.
14 Mais 2015, àpartir de 20h ... tous les détails ici: Details Facebook.
Et sans plus attendre, le teaser de l'evenement!
2015-05-01 // concert
Gcello àBordeaux
Salut le Lucifer!
Soirée concert au Lucifer le 11 Avril! Venez écouter Gcello àBordeaux...
Tous les détails
2015-04-01 // concert
Afterwork - Le ptit bar presqu'au bout de la rue ... Saint Sauveur
Afterwork Alert!!! Le ptit bar de la rue Saint Sauveur, 5 Mars 2015, Gcello passe en mode Afterwork et vous invite àun concert au Ptit bar.
Rue Saint Sauveur, Paris 2e, à2 pas de Chatelet ... vous n'allez pas être déçu par ce show de violoncelle électrique et musique électro!
Explications
Et pour marquer le coup, une petite vidéo àpartager!
2015-03-01 // concert
Dusk Busk EP Released
Happy to announce that Dusk Busk was just released!
7 tracks mixing electronic music and electric cello, ranging from mild downtempo to high energy drum'n'bass.
So go have a listen down here:
2014-12-30 // jamendo; release
