Look up ad libitum or off the cuff in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Ad libitum is Latin for "at one's pleasure"; it is often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun). The roughly synonymous phrase a bene placito ("at [one's] good pleasure") is less common but, in its Italian form a piacere, entered the musical lingua franca (see below).

Music or rhythm[link]

As a direction in sheet music, ad libitum indicates that the performer or conductor has one of a variety of types of discretion with respect to a given passage:

• to play the passage in free time rather than in strict or "metronomic" tempo (a practice known as rubato when not expressly indicated by the composer);
• to improvise a melodic line fitting the general structure prescribed by the passage's written notes or chords;
• to omit an instrument part, such as a nonessential accompaniment, for the duration of the passage; or
• in the phrase "repeat ad libitum," to play the passage an arbitrary number of times (cf. vamp).

Note that the direction a piacere (see above) has a more restricted meaning, generally referring to only the first two types of discretion. Baroque music, especially, has a written or implied ad libitum, with most composers intimating the freedom the performer and conductor have.

For post-Baroque classical music and jazz, see cadenza.

Biology[link]

Ad libitum is also used in psychology and biology to refer to the "free-feeding" weight of an animal, as opposed, for example, to the weight after a restricted diet or pair feeding. For example, "The rat's ad libitum weight was about 320 grams." In nutritional studies, this phrase denotes providing an animal free access to feed or water thereby allowing the animal to self-regulate intake according to its biological needs. For example, "Rats were given ad libitum access to food and water."

In biological field studies it can also mean that information or data were obtained spontaneously without a specific method.

Medical prescriptions may use the abbreviation ad lib. to indicate "freely" or that as much as one desires should be used.

Drama[link]

Ad-lib is used to describe individual moments during live theatre when an actor speaks through their character using words not found in the play's text. When the entire performance is predicated on spontaneous creation, the process is called improvisational theatre.

In film the term ad-lib usually refers to the interpolation of unscripted material in an otherwise scripted performance. In interviews, Dustin Hoffman says he ad-libbed the now famous line, "I'm walking here! I'm walking here!" as "Ratso" Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy.

Live performers such as television talk-show hosts (e.g., Conan O'Brien, David Letterman)^{[citation needed]} sometimes enhance their reputation for wit by the delivery of material that sounds ad-libbed but is actually scripted, and may employ ad-lib writers to prepare such material. Some actors are also known for their ability or tendency to ad-lib, such as Peter Falk (of the series Columbo), who would ad-lib such mannerisms as absent-mindedness while in character.

References[link]

• Ehrlich, Eugene (1985). Amo, Amas, Amat and More. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers. p. 23. 

See also[link]

• List of Latin phrases
• Ad infinitum
• Ad nauseam
• Mad Libs

Catherine Lara (born Catherine Bodet 29 May 1945 in Poissy, Yvelines) is a French violinist, composer and singer.

Music career[link]

As a child, Lara studied violin and received the first prize of chamber music at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1966.

She played and composed for famous singers before starting to sing herself. Her first album, Ad libitum was released in 1972. Since her 1979 album Coup d'fell, her songs are more influenced by rock music. The 1983 album La Rockeuse de diamant provided a major success with the single "La Rockeuse de diamant", and a daring song with "Autonome", in which she says : "[I'm] free to love a woman or a man".

In 1986 she made a breakthrough with the single "Nuit magique" written by Luc Plamondon, her biggest hit that brought her fame and made her win a Victoires de la musique (French Grammy Awards) for best female singer of the year. She published her autobiography in 1987, L'Aventurière de l'archet perdu. She was named Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 1990.

Still with Plamondon, she worked on a rock opera where she embodied female writer George Sand, titled Sand et les Romantiques in 1991. As a part of the show, she released a duet with her friend Véronique Sanson, entitled "Entre elle et moi".

She takes part in charity tours for Les Restos du coeur, alongside French rock stars Johnny Hallyday, Eddy Mitchell and Jean-Jacques Goldman, as well as Sidaction and Sol En Si.

In 2002 she composed a song for the France national football team, to be sung by Johnny Hallyday. The same year Lara was named Officer of the Ordre de la Légion d'honneur.^[1]

Personal life[link]

Catherine Lara is openly lesbian. When asked in a TV-show what she would look at first in a man, she answered "his wife".^[2] Nevertheless, she doesn't want to dwell on her sexual orientation, "For fifteen years I lived a love story and I didn’t tell anyone. I prefer to talk about love instead of sex. After coming out I realized that if it could do good to someone, man or woman, who feels outcast by society, fine."^[3]

Discography[link]

• Ab libitum (1972)
• Marche dans le temps (1972)
• La craie dans l'encrier (1974)
• Nil (1975)
• Jeux de société (1976)
• Babylone (1977)
• Coup d'feel (1979)
• Geronimo (1980)
• Johan (1981)
• T'es pas drôle (1982)
• La Rockeuse de Diamants (1983)
• Flamenrock/Espionne (1984)
• Nuit magique (1986)
• Encore une fois (1987)
• Rocktambule (1988)
• Sand et les romantiques (1992)
• Maldonne (1993)
• Mélomanie (1996)
• Aral (2000)
• Graal (2005)
• Passe-moi l'ciel (2005)
• Au-delà des murs (2009)

Live albums[link]

• Catherine Lara en concert à l'Olympia (1984)
• Live 88 (1988)

Best of[link]

• Rock'n roll de Montréal (72–80) – double CD (1992)
• Best of Lara (72–96) (1997)
• Best of Lara (1997) – coffret 5 CDs
• Catherine Lara (2005) Textes d'Andrée Lebrun

Related Francophone Artists[link]

• Barbara
• William Sheller
• Françoise Hardy
• Luc Plamondon
• Véronique Sanson
• Johnny Halliday
• Deep Forest

References[link]

External links[link]

• official website
• official website
• Biography of Catherine Lara, from Radio France Internationale
• Biography

Daniel Vangarde, born Daniel Bangalter in 1947,^[1] is a French songwriter and producer.

History[link]

In the early 1970s, Vangarde worked with French singers, husband and wife Ringo (real name Guy Bayle) and Sheila (later known as Sheila B. Devotion), as well as releasing some records under his own name in France.^[2] On many of these and later records he worked with fellow writer and producer Jean Kluger.

In 1971 Vangarde and Kluger released the cult LP Le Monde Fabuleux Des Yamasuki as the Yamasuki Singers, a pseudo-Japanese concept album of pop songs, described on the sleeve of its CD reissue as "a fuzzed-out-educational-multi-cultural psych-rock-opera.... proto-psychedelic hip-hop with overweight drum beats and basslines", which much later became a highly sought-after source of bass and drum breaks. The song "Aieaoa" on the album was later recorded, as "Aie a Mwana", first by Black Blood and then by Bananarama, becoming the first UK hit for the latter group.

Vangarde's main international successes came later in the 1970s, as writer and producer with Ottawan ("D.I.S.C.O.") and the Gibson Brothers ("Cuba"). He also worked extensively with the Antillean group La Compagnie Créole, popular in France in the 1980s.

In recent years Vangarde has led a campaign to ensure that descendants of Jewish artists in France, whose rights were taken from them in the Second World War, receive financial compensation.^[3]

Vangarde is the father of Thomas Bangalter, who is best known as a member of the electronic music duo Daft Punk. He is credited with aiding the duo in their early musical career.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bide-et-Musiques discography
• Daniel Vangarde discography at Discogs