I had heard so many things about Doctor Boulanger over the last couple of years, by my former Music Tech Instructor and friend Nassos Vynios, and finally I got the chance not only to meet with him but to be part of two of his performances which took part in Benaki Museum, Athens, as part of the Synch Festival, on 14th & 15th of June 2008.
I first met Dr.B last Friday afternoon (13th June 2008), when we had our scheduled rehearsal for the upcoming presentation & jam performance of "One Laprop Per Child" project. OLPC is an amazing project, which I can only feel honored to have taken a small part in its presentation to the greek public. A cheap (less tha 100$) laptop, developed for educational purposes of children of the world who cannot afford to get their hands on technology. Open source operating system and programs, all based on CSound, in a package which can resist to dust and heat, small and easy to carry around, yet powerful enough to connect to the net, do a number of tasks, all from writing texts to jamming with music software, equipped with a rechargeable batterie of a 12-hour-duration.
Spending time with Dr.B, during the rehearsals and the breaks we had to get something to eat, I found a serious man with a great sense of humor, a precise instructor with an ability to explain clearly and in detail what he had in mind.
For me, the amazing moment was when I attended the lecture he gave on Sunday, on CSound, just before the performance we all-four gave together (see picture below). His lecture was something else... Dr.B started talking to the audience in a slow manner, with a clear and a calm voice, so everyone in the auditorium could understand his american accent. His jokes brought the audience to some laughter every now and then, but he managed to maintain a high level of a presentation which on the one hand required the pre-involvement of the audience with technology, software and music programming, but on the other, it was presented in such a simple way that anyone with basic music & tech knowledge could understand the most of it.
For someone who is noticing details, Dr.B not only has an excellent knowledge of technology, but also is a skillful person when it comes to presenting stuff in front of an audience: he knew how to combine a piece of information he was giving to the public with the visual image of it [1]. He would zoom in and out on his MacBook Pro's screen so that the people watching the projected screen would follow on where and what he was doing. He would often move to the big screen himself (where the projector was showing his laptop's screen) and show by hand and in detail, what he previously had demonstrated through the OS's interface. When there was something important to state, he would lower the tone of his voice, as if he was whispering [2]. That way, the public would pay more attention to it. And when something would go wrong (or maybe not as expected), he would joke about it creating a lighter atmosphere... I loved the fact that his screen was prepared so that the public would see the active user name of the computer's home folder he was using, thus his full name clearly stated on the screen [3]. This way, he provided written information of his profile, serving a number of reason, such as someone making notes on his title and name (spelled correctly), or someone could write down his e-mail, or last but not least, someone wanting to address a question at the end of the lecture would have the name "ready to use" before his eyes. These are presentation skills which go beyond a fairly good presenter... This is what I call a communicational talent, a well prepared professional, a great professor, an amazing lecture... Dr.B gave a number of on-line web-links, enough for someone to get started.
From left to write:
Through this blog I would like to thank Nassos for inviting me to be a part of Dr.Boulanger's presentational and performance group for this act. It was an eye-opening experience in so many aspects. Time spent with Dr.B, Nassos and Costas, on and off stage, was just amazing!
Thank you Dr.B for your good words, for your instruction during these few days, for your lectures. You have made me a better artist, a better man.
by kappa MYSTA
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