A passionate musician, dedicated cellist, and innovative composer, merging his deep love for classical lyric operas with his reflective craftsmanship and commitment to self-discovery, crafting a unique identity as both performer and visionary. Aldo Jourdane is this month's ToneGym Hero!
My grand-mother had a passion for classical lyric operas and I got the virus, listening to music for hours in my childhood. Little by little, I revealed a deep interest in the sound of strings, so soaring, so singing and of a deep musical intensity, a true musical language. The greatest luck I had was to love music theory! It sounds crazy, but it all started from there.
Aside from music, I like to work wood, particularly with a scroll saw, to make toys for my children or objects for decoration or to repair pieces. It's my 3D printer! Otherwise, as an outside member of a religious community, I enjoy studying the Holy Scriptures. Indeed, I find the concordance between scientific discoveries and biblical accounts very enlightening. This helps me to meditate and respond to the principle of being "here and now" in everything I do.
Today's life is complex and multipolar. Over time, I have developed a very fast management of everyday life, against the procrastination. If I want to keep time for my music, then the rest must be efficient!
So, for example, I type very quickly on the computer keyboard, for about sixty words per minute, I get that from my mother ;-)
The first person that comes to my mind right away is Jacob Collier. He is extremely inspiring because of his exceptional ear and his humility in doing things as he goes along in his creativity. He is for me a conveyor of emotion, a gift for humanity.
For sure, the cello ! I really like playing the piano, electric bass, drums and all sorts of keyboards like organs, synths... but the relationship between me and my cello is without possible equivalent. This instrument is magic ; it reproduced every detail buried deep inside your soul and it always allowed me to express what I couldn't say with words. People often tell me this after a concert.
Ideally, you have to practice your musical instruments or compositions for approximately three hours a day. When I have no obligations, I try to keep my whole morning to do that, between 9:00 to 12:00, whatever it is for cello, piano, composing or both… Working in the morning is often more effective. I always begin with my ToneGym workout to wake up the ears.
The most important thing just after is : « Decide what you want to progress in » ! It's a way of life principle: whatever you decide in advance to achieve as a goal, you will achieve it. And here, you have also to choose a duration for each objective: « How much time do I need to reach this goal? ». Very, very important. Most of the time you will get there. Otherwise, it doesn't matter, I underestimated the chosen time or my goal was too ambitious for the moment... I’ll try my best tomorrow.
Motivation is indeed the secret to lasting, I think. So the question we need to ask ourselves is: "how do we maintain motivation?". Or on rather: “Is there anything that could be holding back my motivation?” The answer is yes if you don’t do a self-work! Fear reduces motivation: fear of tackling a new repertoire, afraid to meet people because they might judge you, fear of the big step to climb, I don't know what else… For me, it is the first danger. On the contrary, if you really want artistic activities, keep the desire by kicking you in the butt to leave home, even if sometimes you don't feel like it.
To echo what I said before, I like Jacob Collier's arrangement of Moonriver. Completely amazing! It will take me years before I understand all of its richness (and stay motivated).
I really like the choice of exercises offered, both very coherent, very progressive with motivating training by level. But the real added value for me is to have current information, both in the chosen courses, as well as the naming of chords, musical notations... which allowed me to sort through the millions of tutorials available. And that's very cool!
Recently, I became the principal cellist of a new Paris orchestra, called « La Concorde - Paris ». I was very happy to meet the pianist and conductor Aytèn Inan with whom we share a similar musical vision. It is very enriching for me to play with such professionals and I have no doubt that the orchestra will trigger a surge of emotion throughout the world. My current focus is also based on the search for a personal language.
Indeed, I spent twenty years teaching and recording for other people's projects and I think it's time for me to assert myself in my compositions. To do this, I have to find what touches me personally, find my style, the language and the corresponding codes, in short, know myself. It sounds like classical-electro-ambient music? It's an exciting search that I hope to achieve…
Thank you ToneGym for boosting me to continue this quest!
You can follow Aldo on his SoundGym, SoundCloud, Instagram, Youtube, or his website.
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