Johan Zwart
Electronic music composer & AVID-editor
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music
bio
I was born in April 1947 in Haarlem (The Netherlands)
When I was about 8 years old I started to play the mouth harmonica in an ensemble from the "speeltuinvereniging". And at 9 years old I had my debut in a concert with the ensemble at an theater in the Smedestraat in Haarlem. When the ensemble stopped it's activities I joined 
the 'Sint Joris drum band where I started playing the signal trumpet

On my 16st birthday a fellow band member [Andre Gouw] invited me at his home to listen to some music. He introduced me to the music of Bela Bartók and Dimitri Shostakovich. I wasn't very aware of contemporary music at the time, so it was a real eye-opener for me. We listened for hours on a plastic portable record player. Not hifi really, but that did not matter.
From there on I also started exploring other music like jazz (Bebop, Modern jazz i.e.). The first record I bought was 'Brass Bag', a record of a trombone choir with Gerald Wilson Arrangements on the Fontana Pacific Jazz label.
At one time I found a record with electronic music from 
Morton Subotnick "Silver Apples Of The Moon" it made a big impression on me. As a kid I was always making noises an imitations of all kind of sounds, what was'nt appreciated by the teachers at school by the way, and now I discoverd that you can make music with it. It was clear to me then that that was the music I was going to make. So, I started my first experiments using a simple cassette recorder and a microphone. With the microphone I created sounds by moving and ticking on all kind of surfaces and creating feedback with the loudspeaker.
Later, when I had bought my first (Sony) tape deck and build a simple mixer and I mixed it to stereo. And so I created my first compositions 
"Dialog for two loudspeakers" and "Landscape 1".
I build a few more simple project's like an oscillator and a stylophone that I used in "Moving Objects 2".
In 1972 I bought my first synthesizer, a Cynthi AKS and later a set of Roland Model 100 semi modulars. 


My debute as an electronic music performer was in 1978 in Georges Jazz cafe in Arnhem. Together with Richard Davies and Jos Janssen. We did an improvisation with the title "Van alle Geluiden...".


In 1979, after working for 16 years as a dental technician I decided to make a carieer change and I did a course analog sound synthesis and electronic music composition with Jaap Vink and Frits Weiland at the Institute for Sonology in Utrecht the Netherlands. There I made the composition "No Exit" which is together with the early works now part of the CD "No Exit".

During 2006 and 2008 I worked on my compositions "Out there" and A Sign in Grain" found on my CD "Out There" .

From 1987 to 1989 I also did a course about "The Esoteric Approach of music" with Jan Duindam.
A course about the use of regenerative powers and psychoacoustic qualities of music. During this course I also learned the basics of overtone singing and in 1989 I explored the art of of overtone singing with Diem Groeneveld.
At the end of the course we performed in a concert as the "Utrechts Boventoonkoor" together with the "Amsterdam Boventoonkoor" in the Pieterskerk in Utrecht and later Amsterdam.

In October 1990 I performed as guest overtone singer in the "Choire partita on Psalm 65" from The New Utrechts Psalter, for the 10 year jubilee-CD of  the "Schola Davidica Utrecht".




Sinds november 2008 I joined Karel Eigenraam [live electronics, alto saxophone] and Hugo Keuker [drums]. 
Sinds april 2010 we are going by the name Missing Higgs.

We bring contemporary improvisational music in which nothing is predetermined. In the meeting of different musical backgrounds they explore new ways of spontanious communication. This results in new sound textures, in which the acoustic saxophone- and drum sounds are combined with live controlled audio samples- and sound manipulations.

work
info

In 1980 I started working as a volunteer for the 'Provincial Raad voor het Gehandicaptenbeleid' (P.R.G.) in Arnhem as (audio) technician.
There I was engaged in the realisation a new AV-studio project for reading information on to cassette tape for the visual disabled and the production of slide presentations for educational and informational purposes. Apart from the design and technical advice for the studio itself I was responsable for the choice of recording equipment, the installation and maintaining of the studio.
Together with other volunteers I did the recording of narration and voice-overs and some music projects and also produced several AV-projects.

In 1997 I started as a volunteer at local TV-station (Omroep Utrecht RTV) as an ENG-sound man, where later, I also started editing news items on a linear Umatic two machine edit set which later was replaced by a computer-controlled edit set (LIFT) en DVC-Pro machines.  In the jear 2000 I began editing on AVID Media Composer. 

From 2001 untill 2012 I was working as a freelance Avid editor. I did work for RNTC, AT5, Danzon Productions and MTNL (Multicultural Television Netherlands)

Other projects were the production of the CD "Shandiz, A cycle of Iranian folksongs” in 2003 for the Ensemble Shandiz and in 2008 I created the website for this ensemble. In 2009 I produced the second CD of Shandiz "Old songs/Folk songs".