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International modal music symposiums

The international modal music symposiums give a framework for reflection and research on modal musics.

The international modal music symposiums give a framework for reflection and research on modal musics.
Modal understanding, which is historically present in Western music, seems today reserved for describing non-European music. However, modality is the base of many Western Europe popular types of music, as it is for Western Brittany, where oral and popular modal music was common. And it was this that fuelled our reflection.

The modal music network will be a cornerstone for thought, research and meetings aimed at feeding creation. It will bring together performers, composers, instrument makers, teachers and musicologists around a range of musical styles: popular and classical music from oral traditions, traditional music from Western countries, jazz and contemporary classical music.

Beyond informal exchanges, the members of the centre gather in biennial conferences to deal with modality and its presence in contemporary musical creation. The first conference, which marked the start of the centre, took place in November 2011 around the topic “Modality, a bridge between East and West”.
From there, every 2 years we have organized a symposium in Brittany on a different theme related to modal music.

  • 2011 - Modality, a bridge between East and West
  • 2013 - Music (modal, tonal, oriental, western, scholarly, popular): between rejection and seduction
  • 2015 - Transmission
  • 2017 - Pentatonic music, from reality to myth
  • 2019 - Total screen and local music
  • 2021 - Tube & standards: Treason or reflections of popular music from the oral tradition?
  • 2023 - Drone musics


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Remerciement photos : Eric Legret
http://www.ericlegret.fr