Poirier

Monique Poirier first trained as a musician and pianist, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from the École Vincent-d’Indy and a Master’s degree in Music Education from Université Laval, where she studied piano with Robert Weisz and Joël Pasquier, and chamber music with Jeanne Landry. Constantly seeking to deepen her understanding of music and exploring new pedagogical approaches, she discovered improvisation in the early 1990s through the organization Music for People and its founder, David Darling. She then completed the Music for People Teacher Training Program and became a certified teacher in 1996.

Building on this training and wishing to go beyond traditional teaching methods, she opened her own teaching studio and created the improvisation workshops La Musique au cœur de soi in 1994. She has also worked in various music institutions, including Cégep de Saint-Laurent for 20 years, where she taught aural training, music theory, and Dalcroze Eurhythmics. She leads improvisation workshops in a variety of settings: private piano lessons, École de musique Vincent-d’Indy, Harpissimo Québec, and the Lucie-Bruneau Rehabilitation Center.

In 2018, she presented a cello and piano concert focused on improvisation at the Sérénité Sonore concert space in Montréal. Among her original works, she notably composed the music for the poetic text Flûtes by Yves Lanthier.

Monique Poirier’s teaching is distinguished by creative strategies inspired by improvisation and a strong focus on attentive listening.