State commission (pedagogy category) for the class of Thierry Mercier, guitar teacher at the ENM of Sceaux/Bourg-la-Reine

Level : end of 2nd cycle (part II) and 3rd cycle (parts I and III)

Educational creation on June 8, 2006

Created on 2/6/2009 at the University of Rennes II by Laëtitia Caro-Gourvennec, guitar and Huggo Le Hénan, percussion.

Duration : approx. 10'. Editions Francois Dhalmann

​

The specifications of this work involved developing in each of its parts an always different relationship between guitar and percussion, also :

• The 1st piece, with vibraphone alone, deals more particularly with resonances and the polyphonic aspect

• The 2nd piece, with the addition of a wooden drum and 5 wood-blocks, addresses the rhythmic and digital aspect of the two instruments

• The 3rd piece, with the addition of 5 cymbals, is a kind of improvisation like with a Ud.

​

The spirit that animates this work being close to improvised music, I cannot recommend too much listening to Arabo-Persian music (Iran, Iraq, etc.) in order to become familiar with this way of making the instrument sound differently, c ie as if the instrumentalist played at certain times with a plectrum.

The writing, and therefore the playing of the guitar, is characterized by a multiplicity of European and non-European playing modes which are as many " portes Ouvertes " on other cultures. The percussionist will therefore have to develop a game in accordance with this characteristic.

From a pedagogical point of view,  the students will work on the work with a view to addressing the different parameters of sound (height, duration, intensity, timbre, spatialization, mass, density, registers , mode of attacks and detached, polyphony…) in a constant concern for general balance because the two instruments are treated with equal difficulty ; they need to develop mutual listening and take turns taking direction.

Although each piece can be played separately, it is desirable, in concert or at an audition, to play them all, and this, in the order proposed, this cycle constituting a whole in 3 movements.

Given the demanding writing, this little cycle has its place in a concert performed by professional instrumentalists.

​

My 2nd chamber symphony, Lines of flight,   for guitar and ensemble, develops the potential of these 3 pieces.