MY VIRTUAL ENSEMBLE

The idea is simple. You are either a musician who wants to participate in interesting projects, broaden your horizons and play new inspiring pieces of music. Or you are a composer who wants to bring your compositions to life through the hands of skilled musicians worldwide. In My Virtual Ensemble we come together and implement new chamber music compositions, create an audible and visual outcome and enhance the visibility of everyone involved.

Many professional musicians have invested in better audio and video recording gear during the lockdown, which makes a worldwide ensemble not merely possible as a fun event for everybody, but also as a chance to create music at a very high level, bringing out the individual expression and musical beauty of the artists involved. This is why My Virtual Ensemble, unlike many other similar projects, is open for professional musicians only. And maybe, who knows, once the pandemic is over, we will join up in real life and play together. The German Musikfonds e.V. is very interested in the idea and is supporting it with a scholarship.

The initiator of a project will provide the group with all the necessary material, i.e. the music, a demo, maybe a video with someone conducting the music, a clicktrack, a playalong or some tracks that have already been recorded. Musicians who are interested will record their parts and videotape themselves doing so, while the initiator keeps an overview and communicates what is needed. Finally, the creator of the project will create a video using that footage. Although a video is a great illustration of the community ideal and can be made public easily, it is not mandatory. It may also be that the outcome is just an audio file, some sheet music or even something completely new.

Communications will be via a closed facebook group that you can be invited to or apply for if you are a professional musician or composer. This will be the place to initiate new projects, exchange ideas and get feedback. There will also be a public facebook page where anyone interested can keep up to date on current projects, even if they are not a composer or a musician.

If the composer or producer plans to hire musicians for music that is intended to be used commercially, they will have to make a deal with the musicians involved, offer regular payment or share the revenue. In all cases, it is mandatory to credit the participating musicians by name and instrument and – if wanted – with with a link to their e-mail address, website, social media page or some other means of contact.

The first project of My Virtual Ensemble is a composition for 5 instruments by Mat Clasen called “Amikaro”, which means “friends” or “circle of friends” in Esperanto. The style is neo-impressionist with some repetitive elements and a strong rhythmic component, sweeping between 8/4 and 7/4 and often using groupings of 5 eighth notes. For demonstration, practice and recording the composer has assigned the five parts to the following instruments: Alto flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, bass clarinet and baritone saxophone. However, the final version can and hopefully will be played with a great variety of instruments, maybe even changing instrumentation within the piece or doubling one part with several different instruments. The video contains a draft version of the piece played by Mat Clasen.

The final version, performed by members of My Virtual Ensemble, will be premiered at the end of June on YouTube, facebook and other platforms.

So, if you play a wind, bowed or stringed instrument, a special ethnic instrument or if you sing, experiment with electronic sounds or produce any sort of interesting soundwave at a professional level and want to be part of our very first project, please contact me. I will provide you with all the information and material that you need.