Brothers Bernard and François Baschet collaborated in the construction of a large number of musical instruments. Bernard was an engineer and François a sculptor, both living in Paris. The two collaborated in the construction of a large number of complex metal instruments such as the Cristal Baschet.
1952
1962, The Rotating Whistler
1965, The Voice Leaf
“metal sheets serve as resonators which transform the human voice when vibrated”
1967, Polytonal Percussion
1968
1974 1)
Restored in 2017
1980s
“Baschet Educational Instrumentarium consists of 14 sound structures which make a “sound palette” of around 100 different tones. Its purpose is to initiate children, adults and people with disabilities in collective musical discovery through games and experimentation, and without any previous musical knowledge.
This Instrumentarium is also used in concert by musicians. There are approximately 500 Baschet Educational Instrumentariums in existence, in France and around the world.” 3)
Formed in 1982 the Baschet Sound Structures Association was made to handle the licensing and distribution of the Baschet brothers works.
A musical ensemble formed in 1954 after the Baschet brothers met the performing duo Jacques and Yvonne Lasry. The four of them would go on to construct a set of instruments that they widely performed on.
“Crystal”, Michel Deneuve, the double album for sixty years of the birth of the Crystal. 2014
“Voyage autour du Cristal”, Michel Deneuve, Rue Stendhal Distribution, new edition, 2013
“Danse de Dunes”, Michel Deneuve, Rue Stendhal Distribution, new edition, 2013
Les Sculptures Sonores – The First Fifty Years, FMR Records, CD, 1999
4 Espaces Sonores, with Bernard Baschet, Michel Deneuve and Alain Dumont, 1982
“Seize Nouvelles D'Ailleurs” (LP), Michel Deneuve, Sysmo Records, 1983
“L'Art Du Cristal” (LP), Michel Deneuve, Arion, 1984
Structures for Sound, Museum of Modern Art, 10“ vinyl, 1965
We devised our own system of classification, knowing that every musical instrument is a combination of at least three of the following elements:
1) a means of producing periodic vibrations;
2) a means of creating and maintaining the vibrations;
3) a means of playing the scale and modulating the pitch;
4) a means of amplifying the sound. For example, the violin uses all four elements- vibration is produced by the strings, the bow maintains the vibration, the length of the string determines the pitch, and amplification comes from the sounding board.
To be thorough, we added a fifth column for resonators, that is accessories that move in synchronisation with the sound such as a bass viol's strings which vibrate to add their sympathetic echo without the musician touching them. 4)