Sound tales for Fannie and to all children of the world

[5 childlike miniatures]

A suggestive flight over sounds…

[synopsis] Tarapatapom lives in a land where strange sounds grow and fly all around her. She meets Tintamarre, a talking music box who introduces her to Coquet-the-parrot-who-memorizes-everything. Together, they go in search of the world of electroacoustic art. All the sounds they discover are memorized, synthesized, sampled, treated, organized and filed inside the magic box. After sound watching, sounds take off to create surprising ambiences. Open your ears wide! Don’t let the sounds escape before you have a chance to hear them.

A sound tale for all ages with animation, staging and scenography, intended for children (and for adults who still have the heart of a child and want to indulge their imagination of yesteryear). A sound story depicts the process of making an electroacoustic work in the composer’s studio.

— Roxanne Turcotte [English translation: François Couture, vi-03]

Sons et tintamarre was realized at the composer’s studio (Studio Séducson) in Montréal in 1994-95 with the help of the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA) and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ). It was digitized and remixed in 2002. The piece premiered in the fall of 1995 during a tour of the Concertino series of the Jeunesses musicales du Canada. The show was put on again by the Productions Denise Larose in 1996. Thanks to my daughter Fannie (my inspiration) and to her friends from kindergarten, and children of the school La Perdriolle (L’œuf magique). Thanks to Estelle Esse for the few notes she sang (L’œuf magique).

Composition

• 1994 – 1995, Studio Séducson, Montréal (Québec)

Revision

• 2002, Studio Séducson, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• 1995, Concertino, Canada