Which musician has influenced you the most?
There are several musicians that inspired me. The references are not always mainstream, some are but come from my home country, Argentina and Latin America, Gustavo Cerati is one example. Both his solo career in which he worked extensively with sampling and electronics, and in his former band Soda Stereo. In a more international context, artists like Björk and Radiohead are the best known examples. I find their experimental approach to song writing particularly interesting. I believe they found ways to push the boundaries of the genres they were native, with great results. I've always been interested in the crossing points of genres.
What can you teach me better on your instrument than any other teacher?
I can teach you to create music from virtually any idea you have. Both in a software or your instrument.
How did you learn to play your instrument?
When I was nine years old I liked to play some cassettes that my parents had in the car, but never thought of playing music until I liked someone in my class that was learning keyboards, so I enrolled in the same music class. She quitted soon but I was so hooked that I stayed in the class. Playing keyboards became my most loved activity, and so I stayed with that teacher for about nine more years.
How do you go about writing a song or composing a piece yourself?
I am constantly thinking on a sound world or mood that somehow attracts me, this can be very abstract, such as a faint image or very concrete, inspired on something outside myself. Then, I spend time in my studio playing around with my instruments and sketching ideas when they come around. Reading is an additional input that helps to oil the process.
What equipment are you playing on today?
I play with a hybrid setup that includes digital and analog instruments. It consists of a sampler, a desktop digital synth, a tape machine, and a modular synthesizer to which I attach a microphone. I like to work with hybrid setups because it renders better the sound world I have in mind, and because it embeds the idea of cross genres that informs my music.
What personal characteristic has helped you the most when practising?
The experimental approach and perseverance, and a bit of self-indulgence as well!
What does your instrument have that others don't?
It's flexible and I can customize it depending on the project I'm into, or as a mean for exploration at any given moment.
What do you pay particular attention to when teaching?
I think of students as artists that are in a certain moment of their creative path, and my function is to find out the ways to provide them with the tools they need to realize what they are looking for, to realize their own ideas. In this sense I try to learn how the student understands a certain matter -considering their previous background- to adapt what I need to communicate to them in a way that is both technically correct and complete, at the same time is playful. Playfulness is another of the values I try to transmit when I teach. I believe that no matter how complex the subject of study is, it must have some degree of playfulness and practicality.
How do you structure your music lessons?
The lessons are mostly oriented to practice but they include a certain amount of theory, that is anyhow explained through examples and exercises. Practice means doing, and that naturally implies listening. Listening sometimes transfer into listening to music examples and discuss the techniques used in the music piece. As an example of integrating theory into practice, in the case of fm synthesis, I would set a particular virtual instrument on a DAW and explain the basic principles of that technique through the software so that the student have an immediate contact with the types of sounds this kind of synthesis produces.
How do you proceed with children?
From a playful point of view. I think it's more important to create a beautiful bond with sound/music first.
What has been your greatest experience as a musician so far?
One of the best experiences I've ever had was when my first written piece was performed in a rehearsal. After imagining the timbers, the rhythms and the textures for months, without listening to them, it was wonderful to finally hear the colors they had, and how the sounds became to life through the musicians personalities. Another great experience was to play in a big festival in France, while playing one of the songs, I took my mic and shouted: "jump, jump, jump!" to the crowd and the moshpit went on fire.
What was the biggest stage you've played on?
As a performer I played in South by Southwest festival in Austin Texas, when I was a session musician. As a composer, I presented a work at Colon Theater Experimental Center.
Which musician would you like to play with?
Björk. I think her approach to experimental music is unique. I think I would learn a lot from that experience.
Which one record would you take to a desert island?
Bocanada by Gustavo Cerati. It was the album that made me decide to become a professional musician.
Which stage would you most like to play or do you most like to play on?
Montreux Festival
What else is important in your life besides music?
My family and friends, naturally. Then, getting to know different cultures through traveling and spending time in the places I visit.
