I grew up in a musical family where I received my first music lessons from my parents.\u00a0They filled this in very creatively.\u00a0Gaming fun prevailed.\u00a0Finally, at the age of 15, I decided to start music school.\u00a0A year later I was finally allowed to start with double bass.\u00a0After 3 months of practice, I already played my first concert with my brothers.\u00a0What I still remember from that evening is not only a lot of nerves beforehand, but also an enormous satisfaction afterwards.\u00a0Things moved quickly after that first performance.\u00a0I was very motivated to learn and worked towards my studies at the conservatory in a few years.\u00a0The combination of music school and then conservatory together with creating new music in a group, the many performances and the organization of it have shaped me into who I am now as a musician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think that the choice for the double bass had to do with my personality.\u00a0I’ve always been introverted before, I didn’t stand out and never demanded much attention as a child.\u00a0I think this unconsciously played a role in the choice for a large instrument that you cannot ignore.\u00a0I currently consider the double bass as my main instrument.\u00a0In addition, I have often used my voice within Troissoeur, but I certainly do not call myself a good singer.\u00a0I have been playing viola da gamba for 1 year.\u00a0I like this instrument and I hope to use it in a new musical project within a few years.\u00a0In addition to playing physical instruments, I also consider the proper use of live electronics as mastering an instrument.\u00a0I still see a lot of possibilities in the combination of old classical instruments with electronics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During our years of experience within music groups, we very often reached a point where it was difficult for us to grow or professionalize further after a few years due to a lack of guidance, management and business support.\u00a0Moreover, there is a great need for cooperation within the sector to meet today’s challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since 2014, we have been building an organization with Cluster that systematically tackles all aspects and creates opportunities for new music that does not really belong in an existing category and is therefore extra vulnerable and, in my opinion, particularly relevant to a diverse music landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you feel after a performance that all parameters were right and the audience was completely involved in the musical story, it gives a special form of satisfaction.\u00a0You then know that you are working on something unique that can mean a lot to people.\u00a0I also get a lot of satisfaction from writing new music and recording albums.\u00a0The latter is the culmination of a long creative process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can say that my style is recognizable.\u00a0I think those who compare my early works to my current projects still recognize the same drive or energy.\u00a0This obviously has to do with some rational elements such as the use of acoustic instruments as a basis, often with a rhythmic drive.\u00a0But what exactly determines my own stamp is difficult for me to explain.\u00a0Each new piece of music has to become a new story in itself and that always creates a new challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How a piece of music comes about is difficult to explain.\u00a0First, it has to do with opening myself up or being able to make time to seek and develop new ideas.\u00a0The creation process usually has an erratic course.\u00a0Only a small part of the collected material is actually worked out.\u00a0It usually takes several months for a new work of 4 to 10 minutes to be fully completed.\u00a0I can write about 60 minutes of new music a year.\u00a0But maintaining that frequency is not always easy.\u00a0I need to be able to take enough time to let the music develop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instrumental music is essentially an abstract art form.\u00a0And therefore difficult to put into a word story.\u00a0However, it is essential that a story is told in some way.\u00a0The quest consists of creating a musical tension that keeps the listener on the edge of his seat.\u00a0At the beginning of a creation, I never know what story will eventually be written.\u00a0So that grows along with the music.\u00a0How the listener deals with this is also completely free because of the abstract fact.\u00a0Rather, the story is an emotion or a feeling.\u00a0Someone once said after a performance that during the concert they didn’t know whether to cry or laugh.\u00a0That was one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Performing alone certainly gave me a lot of stress in the beginning.\u00a0You have to carry it all alone and if something goes wrong you have to solve it alone.\u00a0But if you then notice that you have the room completely with you, it also gives extra satisfaction.\u00a0When I play with a group, my function as a musician is very different.\u00a0My main task then is to carry the whole and support soloists or melodies.\u00a0Certainly not an easy task.\u00a0I have noticed that this role fits my personality better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The role of a musician is very different within a theater context.\u00a0You know that you can make an important contribution, but the focus is primarily on the libretto or content of the theater work.\u00a0My music is not really suitable as accompaniment music, so during a creation process it is sometimes very difficult to give the music a full place within the whole.\u00a0What struck me most is that much more time is taken within theater to create together.\u00a0Something I really miss in music.\u00a0Here it is often assumed that a composer comes up with everything and writes it down and the musicians study everything and after a few rehearsals they perform a concert or concert series.\u00a0Within the groups in which I am active,\u00a0I also try to take the time more than usual to develop a program and to involve everyone as much as possible in the whole process.\u00a0On the other hand, many theater people can learn something from the efficiency of musicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was often in the UK performing with Retina Dance Company between 2009 and 2011, I regularly had to take the Eurostar with my double bass.\u00a0I soon realized that people handled extra fees for that double bass rather arbitrarily.\u00a0Sometimes I had to pay extra, but the amount often differed, sometimes I had to pay nothing at all.\u00a0I started to see it as a challenge to get through the checkpoints with double bass as unnoticed as possible.\u00a0I can make myself quite invisible, with double bass that is of course a lot more difficult, but even then I managed to pass 9 times out of 10 without anyone noticing me.\u00a0What I also remember from those performances in the UK are the often very small hotel rooms where there was not even room to put my bass.\u00a0Result: sharing the bed with my double bass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the meantime I have played more than 2000 concerts or performances.\u00a0There are a few that will always stay with me: Troissoeur in Taiwan in 2001, Aranis at the Gouveia Art Rock festival in Portugal in 2008, BASta!\u00a0at the museum night in Ename in 2010, Aranis at Nearfest in the US in 2012. During these concerts I had the feeling that the music completely surprised the audience and they were completely on board with the musical story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m working on some new programs together with Flairck, a group with a long history for which we are currently looking for a new name.\u00a0There are also plans with the group Troissoeur.\u00a0In 2020 we played a one-off reunion tour that has still not been completed due to the postponed concerts.\u00a0We have already started working on new music.\u00a0We are currently working with Flairck & Troissoeur on a concert program with extra guest musicians that we will perform in December ’22 at the Royal Operahouse Muscat in Oman.\u00a0There will also be performances by Rode Boom (both ‘Unknown Evidences’ with which we have now played more than 500 times and the new performance ‘Realities’, which premiered in October 2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ikarus \u2013 Caliph
DAAU \u2013 My Goodness! Poetry
Nik B\u00e4rtsch \u2013 Modul 29_14
G\u00f6sta Berlings Saga \u2013 Contrast
Renaud Garcia-Fons \u2013 Oriental bass<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I grew up in a musical family where I received my first music lessons from my parents. They filled this in very creatively. Gaming fun prevailed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-1665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nieuws","tag-hp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clustermusic.be\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clustermusic.be\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clustermusic.be\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clustermusic.be\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clustermusic.be\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clustermusic.be\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clustermusic.be\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clustermusic.be\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clustermusic.be\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clustermusic.be\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}