Madeleine Richard's Musical Journey: Passion, Kinship and Perspective

Madeleine Richard is a 2023 FACE School graduate. Through her twelve years at the school, her story with the violin is one of passion, dedication, and family commitment. This interview was conducted in June 2023 with her, OSF's first chair, and her father Philippe Richard, then a member of the Foundation's Board of Directors.

Madeleine, tell me a little more about your relationship with the violin: when did you fall in love with it?

Madeleine With the violin, you always have ups and downs. Sometimes you love it, sometimes you don't. Sometimes it's fine, you're fine. Sometimes it goes well, you're happy, you play, [you feel] capable of doing it. [Other] times it doesn't go well, you're fed up, you're depressed, you don't feel like playing. But [most of the time], you know, there's someone encouraging you: your new piece, it's a passage you want to practice. [It makes you] really want to play that part. At the beginning [of my apprenticeship], I didn't want to practice. It was always my father or mother who said, "Go practice your violin!"

Philippe The obligation was very tenuous in our family; it wasn't an obligation either in terms of results, or in terms of time. It could be negotiated, if Madeleine didn't feel like it one day because she was tired. It didn't matter, the next day was a good day for it. So there was a follow-up, but not a tight one. It's a thankless apprenticeship. Some young people get it right quickly, but they lack heart. There are others who have the heart right away, but lack the right touch. Madeleine was in the second category, but for me, the head in music was [the essential thing]. [So] there were two things I did very deliberately, you could call it passive education.

I used to listen to a lot of Jordi Savall's music, which covers a wide range of styles, and I often put him on at home. That's very clear to me, it's part of my upbringing and I didn't need to do anything special. It takes a conscious, consistent and quality musical environment.

Are you aware, Madeleine, of the musical environment you grew up in?

Madeleine For me, the music my father put on records is music I know now. [But] when you're six, you don't know that other families have music [at home], or that maybe they don't have any at all. So you don't compare yourself to the others because you don't live in their house.

I'd like to talk more specifically about your career at FACE. In your fourth year, you had to try out the other instruments too, the trumpet and all. When you tried out these other instruments, was there a moment when, finally, you were no longer sure about the violin?

Madeleine Me, when I do something for a long time, I keep going. I don't want to drop something I already know, so it wasn't really a question. But I know that at one point I tried the trumpet and I really liked teacher Marie-Ève. I didn't like the instrument, but I liked the teacher.

Did you feel that, because of the courses you'd had, you were still a step ahead of the others? Was there ever a time when the balance was right?

Madeleine In fourth grade, I'd already been playing the violin for four years. So yes, I was definitely able to do more things. I was always a little more [advanced], a little better than the others because I'd been doing it longer, and then I always continued with private lessons: for me, violin lessons with Mrs. S were really easy. [On the other hand] there was one thing I didn't do with my private teacher, and that was sight-reading. That was [entirely] Mrs. S's lesson. It helped me improve my sight-reading.

So that's really something specific that the FACE school gave you: the ability to play sight-reading. What do you think the school and the school's orchestral environment gave you? What would you have missed if you hadn't had this musical experience?

Madeleine Playing in a group is not something you can do privately. Private lessons are more about technique, how you play as an individual and not as a group. That's something orchestras do.

Have you explored many different musical forms?

Madeleine What I've learned most is classical music. Sometimes there are little workshops. This year (2022-2023, editor's note), it was folk music because sometimes there are trainees or people from elsewhere who come here. I think we also did jazz and blues, but apart from that, I did more classical music.

You've had Mrs. S. since the fourth grade. Do you feel like that's rare? To have a relationship with a teacher like that, that lasts so many years?

Madeleine It's a teacher-student relationship. I know her, I know her classes, [I know] how she teaches. She's known me since I [could only] play in first position, [until] I [played] the more complicated OSF repertoire. So she knows my limits better. But she's still my teacher.

Were there any other landmark moments in your school career?

Philippe The pandemic had a positive effect in Madeleine's case, because the school decided to continue [certain] activities as far as possible - she then [joined] the chamber orchestra. She was able to develop in a more particular, personal way. And I noticed, at that time, that there was a turning point: I never needed to follow up on music again. After that, it just went.

What are you going to do with all this now, Madeleine?

Madeleine At Cégep, I'm going to do a double DEC, in science and music, at Brébeuf. I'm going to continue in science, but I don't want to give up music, I've been doing it too long to do that! But I don't think I'll study music at university. For [that], I'd have to have a higher level than I have now. I haven't devoted all my time to music [so far], so I'm not going to do it at Cégep either.

What we understand is that music has been an extremely important part of your primary and secondary education, and it remains at the heart of your identity. But it's not your whole identity. Do you feel you could continue to play music for pleasure?

Madeleine I don't think I'll give up the violin 100%, even at university. My music friends and I were thinking of continuing with the chamber orchestra and forming a quartet for the Cégep. To be seen!

You spent twelve years at school. How do you leave those twelve years? How does it feel to be finished?

Madeleine I feel very sad to be leaving the environment where I've spent so much of my life, but I've learned a lot from the experience thanks to my friends, teachers and family.

Philippe I'd have to say that I feel great satisfaction when I look back at all the work I've done over the years. But after the last music-singing concert, although I had been warned that it was a very moving moment, I was overcome by a deep sadness that took me completely by surprise. I had to mourn at the end of the concert, realizing for the first time that we were somewhere else. Today, I'd like to extend my warmest thanks to the teachers for their hard work, and especially to Theodora Stathopoulos.

Text formatted and condensed for publication purposes and translated with the help of DeepL.