Marie-Claire Saindon: Le dep fortwo-partequalormixedvoices-acappellaoraccompanied
Copyright © 2022 by Marie-Claire Saindon, Montréal
All rights reserved. SOCAN.
Cultural context
Le dep is an original melody hailing from the traditional Acadian and Québecois musical practice of the “turlutte,” or mouth-reel. The mouth-reel is the art of imitating an instrumental reel or jig with one’s voice, using a specificset of syllables—not unlike jazz scat singers. It would be performed at kitchen parties (still common today), and dance parties, when the instrumentalists wanted to take a break or when no instruments were available. Though mouth-reels can be found in many other cultures around the globe, a unique sound featured in the Acadian and Québecois mouth-reel is the “ts” sound, much like a mini drum kit hi-hat hit.
A reel, jig, or other traditional tune would often be named after a person (to whom the tune is dedicated), a place, or a scene, may it be meaningful or humorous. If named after a place, it would be common for the tune to be written as the composer of said tune was travelling to and/or from the place. Side-note: a "dep" is short for a "dépanneur" in Québec: the corner store. Long story short, I wrote this tune on a trip to and back from the corner store during the pandemic.
Pronunciation
tam, tim, lam, dam, etc. dl ts t [t] d [d] a [a] é [e] ey [ei] i [i] o [o] This
close immediately to the “m” and hold for the specified duration. close immediately to the “l” and hold for the specified duration. purely percussive and unvoiced, much like a mini drum kit hi-hat hit. a very light t, no aspiration. a very light d, no aspiration. sounds like the beginning of art, no dipthong. sounds like the beginning of break, no dipthong. sounds like hey. sounds like see, no dipthong. sounds like the beginning of though, no dipthong.
Performance notes
The percussion line should be performed by a small group of one to four performers with their feet.The foot stomping can be combined with or replaced by traditional percussive wooden spoons. Both can also be fully replaced by any other percussive instrument that can imitate either effect (i.e. Cajon for stomping, rim of snare drum for wooden spoons, etc.). A combination of both may also be used. Atutorial video can be found on www.marieclairesaindon.com.
The piano line is optional. Though originally written as an a cappella piece, this simple accompaniment can help groups be solid in their entries and pitches. If comfortable with improvisation, the pianist may create their own similar groove.
Marie-Claire Saindon is a Franco-Ontarian composer based in Montréal. She began creating in high school, where she wrote and produced her first musical. She continued to participate in many collaborations, from choral pieces, to scoring short films and full-length documentaries, to accompanying dancers, and fiddling in a team of folk musicians on a historical steam train.
She is composer-in-residence for Choeur Adleisia, runs creative choral and vocal composition workshops for youth and adults, and enjoys teaching Irish fiddle. Arecipient of multiple composition prizes such as the SOCAN Young Composers’ National Awards (2013), and the Ruth Watson Henderson Choral Composition Competition (2018), her choral works are published with earthsongs, Boosey & Hawkes, Cypress Choral Music, Oxford University Press, Hal Leonard, and Alliance Music Publications.
Marie-Claire holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University and a Master of Music in Composition with a focus in Film and Multimedia music from Université de Montréal.
Light, dancing q = 96 with straight sixteenths, or: q = 80 with swung sixteenths