There is a reason why the Montréal Guitare Trio will be performing for so many school children in the Yukon later this month: they need the children’s input.
“We tour schools every year,” says the Trio’s Sébastien Dufour. “It is great for trying out new material.
“If kids like a show, they show it double … if they don’t like it, they show it double.
“So our shows are getting better and our audiences are getting younger.”
When members of MG3, as they are called, are on stage, they sit in chairs because each are classically trained. They will then talk to the audience and tell them what they are doing.
“When we are working on a piece, we will discuss it more,” says Dufour. “We then know the audience better and they know us better.”
Continuous feedback is important because the members of MG3 are still teaching themselves to play the guitar.
“We find out that the guitar is limited,” says Dufour. “It takes a lot of research to find new ways to play the guitar and compose for it.
“After a lot of this research, it is easier to compose. So this is a laboratory for the guitar.”
This “laboratory” has been to 19 different countries. Not once has MG3 found a culture that does not have some form of a guitar.
“That is what is interesting about the guitar,” says Dufour. “It is in most every culture. It may not look like ours, it may be a stick and it may have one string, but it is a guitar.”
Dufour says he often imitates the violin because he wishes he could play a real one. He is also fond of Indian instruments and, for the moment at least, these are his favourites.
Performances also see the ukulele, a button accordion (a traditional Québec instrument) and a type of mandolin called a charango.
There is a temptation to add different instruments, but this is resisted so that MG3 can show what the guitar can do, first.
While in the Yukon as part of the Whitehorse Concerts Series, MG3 will perform for school children in Dawson City, Mayo and Pelly Crossing.
On Sept. 18, it will have a school show in Haines Junction and then an evening performance.
In Whitehorse on Friday, Sept. 19, it will appear at three school shows for a total of 1,200 children. Then there will be a performance at the Yukon Arts Centre on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m.
When they have time, Dufour says they hope to connect with the local Francophone community, which they have heard is big and vibrant.
