Marcelle Deschênes facts for kids

Marcelle Deschênes-Harvey was born on March 2, 1939, in Price, a town near Rimouski, Quebec. She is a Canadian artist who works with many different types of media. She is also a music teacher and creates a special kind of music called electroacoustic music. She used to be a professor at the University of Montreal.

Early Life and Learning

Marcelle Deschênes grew up near Rimouski, Quebec. She went to the University of Montreal. There, she earned both her first degree and a master's degree. She studied music from 1963 to 1967 with teachers like Jean Papineau-Couture and Serge Garant.

She then traveled to France to continue her studies. She learned from famous musicians like François Bayle, Henri Chiarucci, and Guy Reibel. These teachers were part of a group in Paris that researched music. Marcelle also studied how to combine sound and images. She learned this at Pierre Schaeffer's Conservatoire. She also studied music analysis with Olivier Alain. Later, at the University of Paris, she learned from Daniel Charles, Claude Laloum, and Jean-Étienne Marie.

Creative Career and Music

While still studying, Marcelle Deschênes started making many multi-media artworks. These works often combined different art forms. In 1971, she came back to Canada. She began teaching and researching at Laval University's electronic music studio.

At Laval, she helped create a sound library. She also composed music for several films. In 1979, she started her own studio called Bruit Blanc. This studio focused on electroacoustic music. This type of music uses electronic sounds and recordings.

In 1980, Deschênes became a music professor at the University of Montreal. She taught students how to compose electroacoustic music. She also kept working with visual artists. Together, they created and showed many multimedia projects. One famous project was OPÉRAaaaAH! in 1983.

Awards and Recognitions

Marcelle Deschênes has received several important awards for her work:

• She won first prize in 1978. This was for her mixed-media music. It was at the sixth International Electroacoustic Music Competition in Bourges.
• She earned a gold medal in 1989. This was at the Multi-Images international competition in Munich.

Major Works

Deschênes creates multimedia pieces and music for films. Here are some of her well-known works:

• 1¹⁄₂ (1966)
• Voz (cantate mitrailleuse) (1968)
• 7+7+7+7 ou aussi progressions sur la circonférence du jaune au rouge par l'orange ou du rouge au bleu par le violet, ou même embrassant le pourtour total (1968)
• Talilalilalilalarequiem (1970)
• Amertube film soundtrack (1973)
• Le Phasé mou film soundtrack (1973)
• Le Port de Montréal film soundtrack (1975)
• Moll, Opéra-Lilliput pour six roches molles (1976)
• OPÉRAaaaAH! (1983)
• L'Écran humain, (1983)
• deUSirae (1985)
• Lux (1985) – created with Renée Bourassa
• Big Bang (1987)
• Noël réinventé (1988)
• Ludi (1990) – an opera-theatre work with Renée Bourassa

Her music has also been released on CDs, including:

• Big Bang II (1990)
• Halogènes (1991)