When you phone the school, the answering machine message is “Bonjour, ici l’École de musique Estelle Roy!” The voice is happy, excited. In fact, Estelle fell under the spell of music in primary school. Inspired by her father, a music teacher, she had already decided at the age of seven that she would become a guitarist.

Following a very musical high school experience, she completed pre-university training in music at Drummondville and accepted her first pupils. To punctuate the end of her studies in her own part of the world, she achieved a dream when she was the invited to play as the soloist with the Symphonie des jeunes de Drummondville youth orchestra.

After earning a degree in classical music interpretation from Concordia (Montreal), she settled in Mont-Tremblant in 2020 and founded her eponymous music school. Wisely located opposite the schools in the heart of downtown Mont-Tremblant, the little studio occupies one room of the premises.

Chairs, music stand and blackboard welcome the student who, due to circumstances, is separated from the teacher by a transparent screen. The school welcomes students of all ages; a child’s lesson is thirty minutes in length; an adult’s is an hour; and Estelle offers lessons in both English and French. Children tend to learn spontaneously. Estelle finds that the adults are often hard on themselves; they want to be good immediately, but Estelle recommends patience.

There are, of course, requirements: find a comfortable position; stretch your fingers and, for classical guitar, learn to read music. You have to be willing, and want to discover. If you’re unsure, but curious, Estelle suggests a trial session. An initial trial consists of a block of eight weekly lessons, a period that allows you to measure your interest and motivation. To work on your technique, you can rent a guitar for a few dollars a week.

A lesson starts with a warmup: you tune the instrument and do some rhythmic exercises or scales. Then you work on pieces and learn to read music. The lesson may end with a game of identifying notes on the board. While Estelle emphasizes classical guitar, she also offers acoustic guitar. The school currently has some fifty students.

“Up to now, I’ve had many students, but only for brief periods because I never stayed in the same place for long. Here, I hope to create longer-term relationships and see children grow up. Because I obtained my training in the prestigious Drummondville school, I want to bring the same level of teaching and hope to surround myself with a qualified, passionate team,” Estelle explains.

Besides the school, there are Monday virtual appointments, with guitarists who interpret three or four songs. Estelle also performs in restaurants, which is unusual because in that context one usually sees singers accompanied on acoustic guitar. “Classical guitar is completely instrumental and gentle. When I play, I feel the full resonance of the guitar within me and it’s very calming,” she notes.

Other projects? “Yes, I give concerts. As soon as conditions will allow, I have an extracurricular project I’m working on with Curé-Mercure high school: the creation of small musical chamber ensembles. With the Ville de Mont-Tremblant, which has made me very welcome, I will provide lessons to initiate people into playing acoustic guitar,” she adds.

The CD Première escale has been incubating since 2016: “It includes striking pieces that I’ve played a lot during my training. I like South American or Spanish music because it’s written for the guitar. It makes the instrument vibrate in a natural way. It’s really different from something by, say, Johann Sebastian Bach, which was not composed for guitar but has been arranged for it.”

When she listens to the CD, Estelle feels as though she were already somewhere else, in another port of call…

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