A.A. Milne - When We Were Very Young : cycle éclectique de chansons pour enfants, chanté par des enfants
When We Were Very Young is a collection of poems by A.A. Milne that I have adapted to a stylistically diversified children's songbook. This choice was made for many reasons: first, this cycle has never been put to music in it's entirety; second, to bring our generation a literary heritage in song form. By working on different pastiches, I have attempted to broad my musical horizons, in order to eventually find my own voice. My music is designed to be enjoyed by a musically untrained audience, while aiming for refinement in texture and harmony. Therefore, the composition techniques used are bound to be limited to tonal or modal harmonies, to avoid overly complex progressions and find an innovative approach to texture and form. While keeping a clear harmonic language, my approach as a composer is to break the rigid form of a verse-chorus-verse type song and become more attentive to the prosody and the linguistic subtleties. Today, children's music is considered simple and adapted to a public deemed uninterested by rich and diversified textures. While I understand that many contemporary languages are too complex for an average listener, I believe it is still possible to aim at a compositional level that offers to its audience new and interesting colors.
Tonal Modal Cycle Pastiche Song Children Poem