François Houle delivers in-depth and inspiring masterclasses focusing on clarinet technique, improvisation, and the creative process. With his wealth of experience as a world-renowned clarinetist and composer, François provides valuable insights and guidance to students at all levels. Through interactive sessions, participants explore innovative approaches to improvisation, learn how to unlock their creative potential, and gain a deeper understanding of musical expression. François's teaching style encourages exploration, experimentation, and risk-taking, empowering musicians to push boundaries and evolve their artistic voice. Join François Houle's transformative classes to elevate your clarinet playing, enrich your improvisational skills, and nurture your creative journey.
upcoming events
Musical Improvisation at Land’s End / Coin-du-Banc en folie
The 6th edition of MILE Camp returns summer, 2024!
August 10–17, 2024, Coin-du-Banc, Québec
Camp Faculty: François Houle
Guest Artists: Marianne Trudel and Inbal Zadok
The Gaspé coast has been listed by National Geographic as one of the top 20 tourist destinations in the entire world. Nestled in the most easterly tip of the region appropriately known as the Land’s End, and minutes away from the famous Rocher Percé, the coastal village of Coin-du-Banc offers an inspirational and spectacular natural setting for a summer camp devoted to musical improvisation. We contend that where the land ends, imagination begins.
Presented by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI), this summer camp seeks to develop innovative strategies to put aspiring musicians in direct and meaningful contact with professional improvisers. Musical Improvisation at Land’s End (MILE) is a unique summer camp that will engage musicians in hands-on workshops led by world-class improvising artists.
The workshops will take place in an inclusive and supportive environment, nurturing and developing musical improvisation as a vital model of arts-based community-making. In addition to participating in workshops, lecture-demonstrations, and jam sessions, campers (aged 16 and up) will attend concerts and have opportunities to experience some of the unique tourist attractions that the area has to offer, including whale watching, visits to local artisans’ studios, and tours that highlight the region’s breathtaking beauty.
The objectives for this project are:
To connect members of diverse communities (including from under-resourced regions) with profound experiences of improvised music making;
To foster, through improvised musical collaboration, relationships and understanding between youth from diverse urban and rural backgrounds;
To contribute to participants’ sense of confidence in themselves as musicians, and as members of a community;
To promote creativity through immersion in collaborative creative practice, and experimentation in musical improvisation; and
To investigate and document the impacts of the program through a complementary research and evaluation component.
Now in its 6th edition, MILE camp is quickly becoming a landmark site for the development of contemporary creative music where participants are offered a unique opportunity and setting to interact with, and learn from, influential figures within the field of improvised music.
The camp will run from August 10–17, 2024, in Coin-du-Banc, Québec. Campers can purchase our Campers-In-Residence package, Single Day package (for local participants), or stay overnight as a companion of a participant. Information on fees is available via our Cost Sheet.
If you are experiencing financial barriers that inhibit you from attending MILE camp, a limited amount of funding may be available. Please inquire at improvisationcamp@gmail.com.
teaching profile and philosophy
In over thirty years I have established a strong presence on the international music scene as one of today’s most inventive musicians, in all of the diverse musical spheres I have embraced: classical, jazz, new music, improvised music, and world music. Whether performing Mozart or Messiaen, appearing as a featured soloist with orchestra, or improvising and embracing live, interactive electronics, my goal is always to make the concert going experience an exciting one.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
I have founded my career as a performer and educator on my ability to translate personal and professional experiences into practical concepts for individual growth. I have endeavoured to learn as I go, to adapt to new ideas, situations and contexts, and to have the confidence and courage to perform and meet the challenges of new situations. This experience is invaluable in communicating the essentials of a strong musical foundation to students; disciplined work ethic, artistic inspiration, and self-confidence. My aspirations are to keep forging ahead artistically, always looking forward to share new musical experiences with colleagues, students, and listeners, and to thrive in the spirit of team work, leadership, and excellence.
In creating programs such as VCMI, and developing my teaching portfolio at VCC School of Music and UBC School of Music, I have acquired significant pedagogical experience, aswell as a in depth knowledge of academic administration and policy. I have also grown aware of the challenges institutions face in light of the ever changing realities of the music industry. In my view, new musical practices, along with new technologies, translate into new opportunities to enhance our traditional pedagogical paradigm. My personal approach to teaching is two-pronged; first is to instil a strong work ethic, with a solid grasp of music fundamentals, such as tone production, technique, to go with a broad knowledge of the history of music (western and non-western) and its repertoires. Second is to foster an attitude of creative thinking in the student, by opening up the traditional curriculum to include the mastery of extended techniques, the acquisition of new contemporary repertoire, and to encourage collaborative work with composers and multi-media practitioners (visual arts, cinema, video art, poetry and dance). At the basis of this philosophy is improvisation, an invaluable tool in instilling creativity and problem solving skills in students. My practice of improvisation has allowed me to develop a unique approach to technical development and musicianship, translating equally in several stylistic arenas such as jazz, world music, classical and new music, embracing new experimental forms and technology. My musical practice has taught me about creating a focused identity on the music scene pertaining directly to my instrument, while seeking out as much experience and knowledge in other areas of the music industry, such as self-employed entrepreneurship, working with non-for-profit organizations, media relations and promotion, tour planning, copyright law and digital music distribution. This attitude has provided me with a broad knowledge of all the components necessary to lead a successful artistic life. I strongly believe that there is an urgent need to address these areas in today’s music education programs, and I would want to contribute to this environment with my acquired experience. One of my most significant contribution to VCC school of Music’s program has been to introduce career development concepts to enhance the student’s awareness of the diverse range of skills necessary to pursue a successful life in music. These concepts touch upon a wide range of topics, from concert presentation, the use of new technology and the psychology of performing, to management, marketing, and grant writing skills. The objective is to inform students about the many facets of today’s music industry, and to look at all aspects of performance, from program planning to presentation.
PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE
My extensive touring has led to solo appearances at major festivals across Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia, and the release of more than 30 recordings, earning multiple Juno Award and West Coast Music Award nominations. In 2006, I was the featured soloist in Lutosławski’s Dance Preludes with the CBC Radio Orchestra, a performance hailed by the Los Angeles Times. In 2007, I composed and premiered a concerto for clarinet which I went on to record with the Turning Point Ensemble for a 2009 world wide release on the ATMA Classique label. In 2008 I was appointed as “Associate Composer” of the Canadian Music Centre. Inspired by collaborations with the world’s top musical innovators, and studies with luminaries such as Steve Lacy, Evan Parker, and William O. Smith, I have developed aunique improvisational language, virtuosic and rich with sonic embellishment and technical extensions. As a soloist and chamber musician, I have actively expanded the clarinet’s repertoire by commissioning some of today’s leading Canadian and international composers and premiering over one hundred new works. Since moving to Vancouver in 1990, I have immersed myself in the artistic scene not only as a performer, composer and educator, but also by sitting on various non-profit society boards. I was a founding member of the Standing Wave new music chamber ensemble for 11 years, and a founding member of the Turning Point Ensemble, a chamber orchestra with which I performed with for 20 years. I have been listed for several years by Downbeat magazine as a “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” and hailed as a “Rising Star” in Downbeat’s Readers and Critics’ Poll since 2008. I studied at McGill University, went on to win the National Debut competition, and completed my studies at Yale University. I have been an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts and at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria, Italy, and was a featured soloist at the International Clarinet Association’s 2007 and 2008 ClarinetFests.
EDUCATION PROFILE
In addition to performances at international jazz, world, and contemporary music festivals, I have presented special seminars, presentations, and performances at BCMEA conferences, International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest, and at leading music schools regionally, nationally, and internationally. Clinic topics cover clarinet pedagogy, contemporary extended techniques, performance practice, improvisation, the psychology of performing, and the creative process. These activities have heightened my profile in the educational community, making me a sought after clarinet clinician and consultant. I am a faculty member at the Vancouver Community College School of Music (VCC). Initially hired as a clarinet sessional instructor in 1998, I have seen my teaching portfolio expanded over the last two decades to include improvisation, chamber music and ensemble coaching seminars, lecturing on the history of performance practice, and participating in various faculty committees.
From 2006 to 2009 I served as Artistic Director of the Vancouver Creative Music Institute, a summer program created in 2005, dedicated to the advancement of new forms of music, with an emphasis on improvisational practices. This program was created to fill agap between existing programs at VCC in classical music, new music and jazz. This institute offered young musicians the opportunity to engage in other forms of musical manifestations, including improvised music, electronica, and sound art. My responsibilities as artistic director included recruiting, marketing, budgeting, program scheduling, booking faculty, and working with the VCC Registrar, and the School of Music administration, as well as event planning and coordination with program partners and sponsors. Guest faculty included George Lewis, Miya Masaoka, Mark Helias, Marylin Crispell, Evan Parker, Han Bennink, John Butcher, Eugene Chadbourne, Mark Dresser, Joëlle Léandre, Dave Douglas, Taylor Ho Bynum, Harris Eisenstadt, Giorgio Magnanensi, Eyvind Kang, Myra Melford, Barry Guy, Benoît Delbecq, Nicole Mitchell, among many others.
In 2018 I served as faculty for the University of Padova’s winter school’s “Educating to Silence” improvisation workshop intensive in the Po Delta in Italy.
For two summers (2016-17) I served as faculty and program coordinator for Coin-du-banc-en-folie, a community-based music improvisation workshop intensive supported by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (Guelph University). My duties included teaching of improvisation and leading and coordinating participants and faculty performances.
In 2015 I was hired as sessional instructor for the graduate clarinet studio at UBC Schoolof Music, following on my work there as interim studio instructor in 2009/10.
I have been managing a successful private studio since 1985 in all the cities I have been based in; Montreal, New Haven, Banff/Calgary, and Vancouver, and currently in Saanichton, on beautiful Vancouver Island.
In 2007 I became a Leblanc artist, working with Conn-Selmer Inc., one of North America’s leading manufacturer of woodwind instruments. This created an opportunity for me to present clinics and masterclasses at major music schools internationally (notably at Arizona State University, Krakow Conservatory, and Southern Illinois State University).
In 2012 I became a Backun Artist, proudly representing this now world-renowned Canadian instrument manufacturer on the international stage. Other music industry endorsements include Légère Reeds of Canada.