JOSEPH MORDELET
Passionate about astronomy since childhood, I had the opportunity, fifteen years ago, to orient my professional choices so that this lifelong passion becomes the driving force of my activities. Today I am fortunate to be able to share this with all those whom the discovery of a starry sky fascinates and intrigues.
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At the origin of this activity which makes me go to bed so late, from childhood to the age of eight : a small astronomical telescope sixty millimeters in diameter, with which I discovered the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and some clusters stars, and by now it is already too late, the astronomical virus has hit me severely... Growing up, I never stopped looking for high-altitude sites where the night sky is of remarkable quality. Sensitized by these vast landscapes that I discovered, dominated by the immensity of a sky revealing its spatial objects, I also developed over the years a practice of night photographer.
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The years of observation and the instruments will follow one another until about fifteen years ago when I made the decision to become fully and professionally involved in astronomy.
What brought about this change was the possibility of getting involved in community life, first of the Mount Chiran observatory (1905 meters above sea level) then of the Châteaurenard peak observatory, above the village of Saint-Véran (the highest in Europe at an altitude of 2,936 meters) as site manager. A place where I had the chance to meet some of the most memorable encounters.
I then returned to Chiran as manager with the firm intention of renovating and developing to its fair value this exceptional site, which has been poorly managed for thirty years by the association of volunteers who thinks they know how to take care of it. We have with my partner during four years renovated the whole site at our expense, developed the activity, doubled the attendance, changed the telescope and developed this concept of astronomy in music. Then came the coronavirus accompanied by a few malicious profiteers... We therefore had to cease our activity at Mount Chiran. This allows us today, with the help of instruments that I dared not dream of as a child, to come as close as possible to those of you who would like to discover a little bit of this infinity in which we travel.
And it is truly with great pleasure that I will share with you all this knowledge acquired during these years of practice, which are only the fruits of my own questions.
TIPHAINE SONN
I have been singing and dancing from a young age. Singing finally punctuated my life. I have become through practice but also through my own experience very sensitive to each sound I hear and to the fact of interpreting these sounds, of imitating them and making them resonate through the medium of my voice.
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The voice, in my opinion, is not exclusively linked to oral communication or to singing, the voice has this ability to produce an infinity of different sounds : breathing, cry, laughter, tears, drone, whistling, imitation of an animal cry, moan, so many possibilities of vocal sounds can express so much !
This sensitivity led me later to produce performative pieces and sound pieces, where the voice without language is the central medium. It is mainly during my art studies that my various practices found their meaning, and also that my most memorable encounters were made.
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Wishing to perfect my theoretical knowledge and my musical practice, I decided, after obtaining the DNSEP (Higher National Diploma of Plastic Expression) to follow a year of professional training in music professions at the EF2M school. I then followed intensive theoretical music theory and harmony lessons, in particular with guitarist Cyril Achard.
At the end of this training, I was able to practice singing in particular, through several musical styles, including jazz, rock, blues, funk and rhythm ’n blues, through Cuban music, French song… These stylistic exercises later helped me to better define my musical orientations and choices. This training brought me a considerable experience both at the strictly musical level and from the point of view of the professional musician in full insertion in the artistic environment.
A few months later, by a strange coincidence, I met Joseph Mordelet, nocturnal photographer and astronomer, from the top of the mount Chiran observatory that I had just discovered. From that day on, I decided to join him during the 2019 season for the co-management of this site conducive to astronomical observation. And it was in this same place that we made the choice to pool our two disciplines : astronomy and music and thus to offer our services in symbiosis to the public who came to the summit on a hike.
For me, it was an absolutely incredible experience and undoubtedly one of the most rewarding and inspiring in every way. Above all inspiring by location : an observatory located at the top of a mountain at 1905 meters above sea level in the middle of nowhere with a 360 degree view ; and enriching through my daily activity on site : singing and improvising on the piano and various instruments in the dome, under the Milky Way for a public wishing to observe the sky, enrich their knowledge of astronomy and live an original experience.
Nowadays, it is thus with Joseph Mordelet, within Astronomy and Music that I exercise my main activity.