Works for acoustic and electronic instruments in real-time are gradually becoming a repertoire in and of their own. IRCAM partners with conservatories, music schools, and instrumental ensembles to organize a series of courses each year for music students and young professional performers. These courses provide an opportunity for the participants to become familiar with the different mechanisms of mixed music and to learn how to play instruments with electronics in new musical situations.
A true chamber music work between the instrumentalist and their electronic double, the interpretation of a mixed work requires constant listening and a heightened attention to the effect of the instrumental gesture. It raises questions of sound capture, of interaction with the real-time transformation of the performer's playing, of the relationship between the pre-recorded parts and their diffusion, of decentering and spatialization of the sound source.
The program is structured in three parts:
1. One or more workshops introducing new technologies for instrumentalists, focusing on sound capture, processing, and diffusion — offering a window into IRCAM’s latest research in instrumental music.
2. Working sessions on mixed works with the teacher, musical computing engineers, and sometimes the composers involved.
3. A public presentation of the program worked on throughout the year.
Mixed Music Program with Pôle Sup’ 93
For several years, IRCAM and the Pôle supérieur d’enseignement artistique Aubervilliers - La Courneuve - Seine-Saint-Denis (known as “Pôle Sup’93”) have developed a program allowing 5 to 6 students in the musician-performer curriculum (DNSPM) at Pôle Sup’93 each year to discover and work on mixed music works alongside IRCAM’s computer music designers and sound engineers.
This educational initiative addresses the specific challenges and stakes of performing mixed music. It takes place over several sessions (studying the instrumental and electronic score, playing with electronics at IRCAM) between October and April, culminating in a public concert as part of IRCAM’s artistic season.
Pedagogical Advisors
IRCAM Grégoire Lorieux, João Svidzinski
Pôle Sup’93 Matteo Cesari
