Professor is a state of mind that spontaneously appears when knowledge, career experience and passion for research reach a perfect balance bringing a professional to meet and walk together with younger generations for a reciprocal knowledge exchange…
But this is not enough yet : the achieved success and goals can restrain or even trap a mindset. The joint journey requires a clear open mind attitude as basic condition to share with the students a common vision of the world and a strong hope in the future.
I usually introduce myself as an eclectic musician (composer, organist, pianist, harpsichordist) with classical background, a strong interest in the contemporary art dimension (electronic, multimedial, improvisation) and with a lifelong experience in almost every genre of music (early music, classical, jazz, pop, contemporary, ethnic); but what I’m really proud of, are the following two cutting edge art theorisations: The Modular method in music (1988) and the Ergo Sum therapy (2018).
Modularity applied to music makes a functional co-creative composing activity possible with a strong impact on aestethics and multimedial dialogues among different languages of art.
I consider any composer’s work as a module, combinable with other compositions created by her/himself or by other composers; just like LEGO bricks in the LEGO City… Only a simple single rule to follow: no one has the right to modify somebody else's work!
The result is an unpredictable, neverending, open creation: an acoustic ecosystem of different styles and genres, a respectful cohabitation of cultures and musical heritages.
Moreover, it is possible to juxtapose music from any classical repertoire creating unexpected synergies between historical and contemporary composers.
Modularity is the art of living together without blending!
Any language of art is welcome to be part of the pulsing system by assembling or disassembling multimedial structures. Discussions on copyright, psychology of composition and listening are still open, ready to involve departments of law, sociology or economics.
My ultimate field of research starts in 2018 after 10 years spent abroad between USA and Asia where, my wife (Giorgia Ragni, soprano and linguist) and I had the opportunity to face different audiences as performers, lecturers and project leaders… Coming back home I tried to give an answer to the question: is it possible to remove the entertainment bias from music?
I answered to the question by theorizing the ERGO SUM maths-music therapy.
Assuming that every human activity can be considered as a mind exercise, an unconscious training to keep up with ancestrals automatic reactions, I found out that music, and in particular early polyphonic (pre-baroque) compositions, were true brain exercises aimed to balance the two brain hemispheres seeking a rational/emotional equilibrium: awareness and health.
The therapy combines music (Goldberg Variations by J.S.Bach) and maths (Multiple counting) enhancing positive effects on emotional reactions, resilience, learning and concentration for performers and audience.
The ERGO SUM therapy has been developed together with Dr. L.M. Bianchini (neuropsychiatrist) as a therapy to prevent Alzheimer and dementia, for discalculia, dislexia and autism. The research project is seeking a center where it can be fully tested for neurological scientific evidences (brain imaging, fMRI, PET, EEG) and is open to a research in many other disciplines such as hermeneutics, history, economics, psychology, antropology, philology…
Rather than my skills as a performer, the intention is to emphasize the outcoming of my lifetime concert player experience: a deep knowledge of audience reaction and stage communication.
As soon as I got my degree in organ with the highest honors, I begun my concert career performing every year a monthly tour in a different country; but my stage experience started much earlier, playing and singing jazz, pop and dance music in pubs, hotels and dance clubs: venues where I learned how to understand and handle any kind of audience’s reaction.
This powerful tool gave me the opportunity to categorize different audience types, elaborating a conscious technique of stage entertainment communication: in simple words, if you want to communicate, your performance style needs to consider people in the stalls: while emotional audience expects a show, experts people want philological and accurate interpretations; and since it is rare to find a homogeneous stall, one is better off when she/he knows how to balance and mix the interpretation.
I recently prefer to perform as a soloist or in duo with my wife, but I have quite a long experience as member of ensembles (continuo), orchestra and choir conductor (opera choir, gospel choir, folk traditional choir). Conducting requires special psychological skills: dealing with group of people can lead to difficult situations, so I have been trained on the field to manage relationships for more than a decade. Keeping a common enthusiasm and sense of membership is fairly critical to succeed in the task.
Regarding the composition activity, besides my own productions, I was lucky enough to have many commissions of any genre of music: ballet, theater plays, short videos, songs, rhythmic gymnastics, commercials and tv themes. Every collaboration with a director needs a special attitude to understand the customer’s vision, by sensing her/his idea of balance between your own work and the whole creation. This analysis is crucial in order to avoid your artistic dignity from getting enslaved by the will to please the client. A shared wiev of the project is always a winning situation for everyone! Composing electronic and acousmatic music is my passion, as well as playing with any kind of analogic or digital devices and exploring the new sound landscapes, easily accessible through informatic technologies.
Finally, I will mention how my full mark accountant degree was helpful for the organization of projects and festivals (marketing, financial activity, sponsors, revenues, fundraisings). Besides several modular projects (The Zoo World modular project, The FaceBach project, Mcubed silent movie festival), for almost 30 years I have been the art director of the prestigious Santa Maria Nuova International Organ Festival in Fano – Italy, where some of the best world organists performed.
At the moment, although my harpsichord and organ concert repertoire is focused on J.S. Bach, D. Scarlatti, F. Couperin, J.P. Rameau, A. Marcello, G. Muffat and other baroque composers, my specialty actually lies in piano and organ full improvisation concerts. In duo, with Giorgia, we use to set up special piano/organ and voice performances, related to all sorts of topic for fundraising purposes, theater concerts or flash mob entertainment events, combining multiple genres and styles to ironically involve and shock the audience at the same time.
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