Research

Into the toneworld.

As a double bass player, improviser, instrument builder, researcher, … okay let’s say as a human being, I’m intrigued by sound and its production. The way a voice, an air column or a string works, inspires me endlessly. For me, improvising music also implies searching for new sounds,  i.e. imagining a sound that would fit the spontaneous composition and trying to create it regardless what instrument you play.

In my search for sound, I decided to start making my own gut strings. Theoretical knowledge of physics of the string is important but I also wanted a practical, a more intuitive, maybe inexplicable point of view on the way a string (re)acts.

 


During the summer of 2022, radio Klara came to my workshop at KASK to have a chat about making strings as a musician, working with sound at the core, when it’s still tangible. Listen to the reportage here (sorry it’s in Dutch… )

https://klara.be/lees/de-instrumentenbouwers


In april 2022 I was invited to talk about gut strings and Charles Mingus. It was an interview by Olav Grondelaers in Music Matters on radio Klara (sorry Dutch again…). It was Mingus’ 100ieth birthday that day…

 

 

And a little teaser for the interview ;


 

Ghent University, HOGENT/KASK & Conservatorium