Frans AbsilAbout
This page will inform you about the author's background and experience in music projects.
Background
As a kid he played Renaissance woodwind instruments (recorder, flute
and double reeds) and tried the violin for a couple of years.
Listening to both popular and classical music, his lifetime
favourites are Ravel and Bartók.
As an Aerospace Engineering student he became interested in
jazz music and took saxophone lessons. His teacher introduced him
to the music and scores of Thad Jones, Michel Legrand
and many others. That's when he decided to study arranging and
orchestration seriously.
After reading the books by Mancini, Nestico, Sebesky and others, he attended jazz arranging courses at the Royal Conservatory, the Hague, the Netherlands. He studied the Schoenberg books on classical harmony, form, and counterpoint, plus textbooks on atonal, dodecaphonic and contemporary music. Orchestration skills were developed studying scores by Brahms, Ravel, Richard Strauss and Strawinsky. He practised techniques from the Schillinger System of Musical Composition.
Experience
He gained arranging experience, setting up a twelve member band that played local concerts, theatre music and recorded the odd film (documentary and advertisement) music. Playing in big band saxophone sections, he handed in arrangements and later took up the role of band leader. Starting as saxophone and flute instructor in a concert band (symphonic wind orchestra) he moved to being arranger and conductor.
His first studio orchestra arrangement was accepted for the
Metropole Orchestra (Netherlands Radio Orchestra) workshop.
The Atari computer with MIDI-ports familiarised him
with sequencer software, synthesizers and later sampler technology.
He produced music for films and commercials, and continued to write for
big bands, wind orchestras and theatre.
After a project with the Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Mythen-Hollanda music publishing company started distributing the sheet music. His music has been included in the repertoire lists for amateur music contests both in the Netherlands and abroad. The Nederlands Politieorkest and the Dutch Symphonic Wind Orchestra have performed his wind band arrangements. The Ricciotti Ensemble (a small symphony orchestra) performed a short tone poem on one of their summer tours. The Harenkarstival 2008 project is a perfect example of providing local bands with musical repertoire that suits their instrumentation, musical ambition and playing skills.
He has given courses on arranging and music theory and has been presenting guest lectures in the field of musical acoustics and audio signal processing. He decided not to be a professional musician. Holding a Ph.D. in science, he took on a parallel career, preferring to do only music projects that are fun and stimulate creativity.
