France is home to a vast musical landscape ranging from Celtic tunes and Mediterranean rhythms, reflecting its vast cultural mosaic. Ranging from national/neoclassical compositions to more experimental styles that incorporate foreign sounds – French music has always been highly experimental!
Vendee’s Marais Breton region is famous for its tradition of playing the veuze accordion and for singers like Pierre Burgaud who specialize in traditional singing styles. Additionally, Morvan and Nivernais provinces boast numerous cabrette bagpipe players.
Bagpipes
Bagpipes are wind instruments composed of an animal skin bag to hold air for blowing. Within it is an instrument known as a “chanter”, featuring finger holes for melodies to play from within its pipes. There are three drones which correspond with each chanter pitch; these reeds produce continuous sound waves.
There are various other types of bagpipes besides the musette, with the Cabrette being one of them. Its key characteristic is being played using an elbow-driven bellows. This style is often associated with regrets and bourrees — traditional Auvergne dance music styles.
Remy Dubois and David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690), both noted musette artists, often depicted their instrument in paintings which often misrepresented its playing technique (including grace notes).
Flageolets
The flageolet, also referred to as the bird flageolet or flajol, is a small wind instrument commonly seen in ballroom music and quadrille dance bands. Having six holes with holes arranged differently than whistles and recorders results in a scale which requires cross-fingering for proper playback.
Named for its French equivalent – flajol – this instrument is usually associated with Sieur de Turigny as the inventor. His instrument had four finger holes on either hand with two set aside for thumbs on its rear panel.
Amateurs found flageolets particularly appealing as a light and easily portable companion that could help relieve boredom. Samuel Pepys took lessons with master flageolet player Greeting, who wrote an interactive tutor using tablature to indicate which holes needed covering.
Fife
The fife is a side-blown transverse flute commonly associated with military marching music and battlefield signaling. Its distinctive sound can travel great distances, making it perfect for outdoor performances. Furthermore, the fife has become an iconic representation of American Revolutionary War imagery such as Archibald Willard’s painting “Spirit of ’76”, along with living traditions of period-modeled bands.
The fife is actually a variant of the bourdon, itself an adaptation of recorder. Early fifes were single-piece instruments with conical bores. At the start of the 19th century two-piece fifes featuring extra tone holes beyond seven and an undercut embouchure began appearing; keys would come later.
Musette de cour
The musette de cour bagpipe, first created during the 17th and 18th centuries by composer Charles Watteau for use alongside other baroque woodwind instruments, became increasingly popular during these timeframes. It features a non-mouth-blown chanter, with multiple adjustable drone reeds inside a compact cylindrical housing for playing it over time.
Although not as loud as Northumbrian or Uilleann pipes, its sound has an appealing quality to it that captures one’s ear. Neoteny (the adaptive juvenileisation of adult creatures) can be heard through seductive melodies played on Baroque in the North’s disc featuring Amanda Babington (musette), Remy Dubois (chanter) and David Smith (harpsichord). This recording was made for Continuo Connect in February 2015 and received 4 stars from BBC Music Magazine.
Boulez
Boulez was one of the leading figures of post-World War II musical modernism. His compositions contributed greatly to musical culture and he championed new composition. Furthermore, he conducted extensively and served as an influential teacher. Among his students are Lorin Maazel and Simon Rattle who continue their musical legacy today.
His works stood out from those of his predecessors by employing chance music techniques in their compositions – for instance allowing musicians to improvise certain ideas within pieces, known as Pli selon Pli (Fold upon Fold). This provided unique performances every time it was performed – one such piece being Pli selon Pli.
Initial rebellion gave way to relaxation as his anger subsided over time and he returned home and established IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique).