On track with Denis Gougeon!

Transcription

1 Grand jeu/grande écoute Guide pédagogique Homage Series n o 4 All Ears / All Play On track with Denis Gougeon! Teacher s Guide Activities for analyzing, performing and creating music Primary and Secondary level students Série hommage Denis Gougeon SMCQ 1

2 Document prepared by the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) as part of the Homage Series ( ) dedicated to Denis Gougeon.. On track with Denis Gougeon! Copy editor: Claire Cavanagh (SMCQ), in collaboration with Hélène Lévesque (CSDM music education consultant) Consultants (Ontario): Frédéric Julien and Gena Norbury Translation: Peggy Niloff Illustration: Élisabeth Eudes-Pascal Coordination: Claire Cavanagh Layout: Noémie Pascal Homage Series / Denis Gougeon Artistic Director: Walter Boudreau General Director: Aïda Aoun Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ), , boul. de Maisonneuve Est, Montréal (Québec), H2X 3X6 Telephone: Fax: smcq@smcq.qc.ca

3 Table of contents The Homage Series and All Ears/All Play 2014 p. 4 Biography of Denis Gougeon p. 4 Educational tools for All Ears/All Play 2014 p. 6 Pedagogical activities p. 7 A) Primary levels Le piano muet : Music based on a story by Gilles Vigneault Preparatory games p. 10 Appreciation/Critical analysis p. 13 Les Fables de Lafontaine : A study of tempos and character Appreciation/Critical analysis p. 14 Creation p. 15 À l Aventure : When the music takes us on twists and turns Appreciation/Critical analysis p. 18 Voler comme un oiseau : Singalong with Denis Gougeon and create a musical collage Performance p. 20 Creation p. 20 B) Primary and Secondary levels Jeu d imitation (suivez-moi!) : A study of the imitative process in music Appreciation/Critical analysis p. 25 Creation p. 26 C) Secondaray levels À l Aventure : When music takes us on an adventure Appreciation/Critical analysis p. 28 Creation p. 29 Un train pour l enfer : When music encourages reflection on social issues Appreciation/Critical analysis p. 30 Creation p. 30 Chant de l amitié : A passacaglia for school bands Performance p. 32 Creation p. 32 Reproducible Forms (RF) p. 35 Evaluation Forms (EF) p. 67 Annex p. 91 Suggestions for other works p. 93 Concerts by and for young people p. 95 Registration form/compositeurs en herbe p. 97

4 Série hommage Denis Gougeon The Homage Series and the All Ears/All Play project A biennial event organized by the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ), the Homage Series creates a veritable artistic convergence surrounding a remarkable composer, underscoring their contribution and lauding them as a national treasure. An appeal is made to ensembles and experienced artists From all music genres: early music, classical and contemporary, who participate by integrating some of the featured composer s works into their programming. This year, more than 50 concerts and 200 activities will take place throughout the country to honor Denis Gougeon! Teachers and their students are invited to participate in the Homage Series via the All Ears/All Play project, especially designed for young people. Teachers can bring an awareness of Denis Gougeon and his works via the music performance, creation and critical analysis activities presented in this Guide. Reproducible forms facilitate the classroom activities and assessment grids are also provided in conjunction with the objectives of Quebec and Ontario music programs. Several of the presented works provide contextual choices to challenge/interpret sociocultural issues, including cultural references. All Ears/All Play in the community The Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) has undertaken specific initiatives to sensitize local media to the All Ears/All Play project. Some 20,000 students participated in the last edition featuring composer Ana Sokolovic, and several articles were published in media outlets. Young people find it exciting when they note that an important event which they are involved in gets media coverage. Teachers and students are also invited to share their experiences of the All Ears/All Play project on the SMCQ blog, musiquecontemporaine.wordpress.com or on its Facebook page. Feel Free to contact us (ccavanagh@smcq.qc.ca ) - we eagerly await your feedback! Denis Gougeon: biography Departure: Granby Denis Gougeon is born in Granby (Quebec) in 1951, just a few steps away From the famous zoo. His childhood is marked by animals, merry-go-rounds and visitors from all over the world. Holidays are spent working in the amusement park, on biking escapades to the aerodrome or on train rides, thanks to his father being the station master. As a youth, music is not a major part of his life: Denis Gougeon s dreams focus on travel. When he turns 15, a revelation occurs: he borrows a recently acquired guitar from his siblings, never to return it. After a year of persistent self-instruction he gives his first classical guitar recital. He will continue learning on his own until he turns 20, when he decides to make the big leap : leaving his home town to study at Montreal s École de musique Vincent-d Indy. 4 SMCQ Série hommage Denis Gougeon

5 Grand jeu/grande écoute Guide pédagogique Destination: Montreal Denis Gougeon is now involved with diplomas and encounters. He completes his DEC and Bachelor s degree in guitar and musicology at Vincent-d Indy, where Sister Jacques-René introduces him to composition. Just a few months after his arrival, his path crosses with young soprano Marie-Danielle Parent. This is the start of a long love story and fertile music exchange. Side by side, they set up a small group, playing all types of genres in all types of venues. At the same time, the young guitarist decides to take private classes in music analysis with composer André Prévost, with whom he will continue his composition studies at the Université de Montréal, eventually attaining a second Bachelor s degree. At the same institution, he commences a Master s degree in composition with composer Serge Garant, a former art director of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ). Besides helping him perfect his music writing, Garant sensitizes him to the importance of becoming concretely involved in the cultural milieu; advice that he will follow throughout his career. Flight In 1980, his studies completed, Denis Gougeon accompanies Marie-Danielle Parent, now his wife, to New York, where she perfects her talent. There he composes Voix intimes, for his wife and her sister Yolande Parent. This work is noted for its entirely personal meaning. Recipient of first prize (Concours de la SOCAN), this opens the door to his professional career. Upon returning to Montreal, encouraged by Friends such as composers Claude Vivier and John Rea, Denis continues to compose, gains commissions and wins prizes. Among others he joins Lorraine Vaillancourt for Événements du Neuf and Walter Boudreau for certain SMCQ events before becoming, in 1989, the first composerin-residence with the OSM. In 1992, having barely completed his residency, he meets Théâtre UBU director Denis Marleau, for whom he will compose music for eleven projects. He will also write for Orchestre symphonique de Québec, SMCQ, NEM,I Musici... Soon, collaborations with the dance milieu (Jean Grand-Maître and the Bayerisches Staatsballett of Munich) and shows for young audiences (SMCQ Jeunesse, Arsenal à musique) will be added to Gougeon s impressive road map, and for quite some time he will be regarded as the only Quebec composer who can earn a living relying solely on composition. Today, with more than 100 works in his catalog and crowned with ever more prestigious prizes (in 2010 winning the first prize, grand finale in an international composition competition in Shanghai), Denis Gougeon is considered one of the most highly regarded composers, in addition to since 2001, being a devoted professor of composition at the Université de Montréal. But in spite of his accrued success, the small-town Granby boy is never very far away: a passion for life, aviation enthusiast, always ready to embark on an adventure, Gougeon continually strives to offer music that bears a message, that touches and that allows its listeners to take-off. Ready? Fasten your seat belts! Série hommage Denis Gougeon SMCQ 5

6 Série hommage Denis Gougeon Educational tools The SMCQ provides various tools especially designed within the All Ears/All Play Framework, enabling you to introduce your students to the life and music of Denis Gougeon. This guide includes some suggestions, but teachers are Free to develop classroom activities based on their inspiration or to adapt suggested activities tailored to their student s needs. Denis Gougeon Comic Book DVD video Music scores Denis Gougoen s life conveyed through words and images by illustrator Élisabeth Eudes-Pascal and youth author Marie Décary. Through four thematic capsules, Denis Gougeon recounts his fascinating life s work to young and old alike. He takes us through his childhood, his vision of composition and his interaction with other artists. Primary school students can sing Voler comme un oiseau, a work specifically composed for them, while secondary school students can perform Chant de l amitié, a work for school bands commissioned by the Centre de musique canadienne au Québec (CMC) in honor of the Homage Series. Other Denis Gougeon scores for young people are available for a small fee through the CMC by contacting atelier@centremusique.ca. Pedagogical Activities The Teacher s Guide suggests critical analysis, performance and creation activities based on musical excerpts carefully selected with the composer, for differing age groups. 6 SMCQ Audio CD Audio excerpts From Denis Gougeon s works are offered in conjunction with educational activities for primary and secondary level students. Série hommage Denis Gougeon