Testimonials

After a childhood spent at the conservatory, going as far as to integrate a CHAM class in high school, I did not appreciate the curriculum proposed in cycle 3 of the conservatory and I therefore stopped classical music at 14. After my engineering studies, I gradually regained my taste for music by approaching the repertoire of traditional and improvised music. An extended stay of 6 years in South America as a musician allowed me to study many musical cultures. Upon my return to France, I decided to train in teaching pedagogy and it is by talking with former music teachers that I came to know the CFMI of Aix-en-Provence.

These two years of study were very intense, because of the eclectic program that forces us to leave our comfort zone. I was able to develop solid skills in vocal technique, group pedagogy, MAO and especially a pedagogy of learning through creation. The teachers are of a high quality and are all active in the region, which allows us to have a precise feedback on our future in the profession. The only criticism I have of this training is that it would perhaps be more interesting to delve into the specialities of each student, this would probably avoid an unnecessary expenditure of energy in certain subjects which will be useless for certain profiles.

The possibilities of work after the DUMI are great, it will be necessary to make a choice according to one's preferences. Full-time jobs as a guest musician are plentiful if you are willing to travel around the country. After discovering the Orchestre à l'École and DEMOS programs in my second year, I decided to look for work in these programs and I am now part of DEMOS Marseille as a clarinet player and pedagogical manager. I also kept a link with singing in schools, the heart of the MI's work, by working for Musicatreize within a school. By choice, I did not look for another job because I wish to reserve a part of my time to my professional artistic life.

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Immersed in music since childhood, I took piano lessons for ten years in an associative music school. I also took singing lessons for a long time and performed on stage at the same time.

After obtaining a degree in Education Sciences, I discovered by chance the training for the profession of Musicien Intervenant; which combined my passion for music and pedagogy.

My two years at the CFMI were very beneficial to me both artistically and personally. It developed my curiosity, my creativity and a better self-confidence. It is a multidisciplinary training that combines: singing, instruments, body expression, theater, practical training...

As soon as I obtained my diploma as an intervening musician, in July 2022, I applied to the Cité des Arts de Montpellier where my application was accepted. I am now a salaried employee, employed by the Metropolis on a full time position (20 hours). Thanks to the many skills I acquired at the CFMI, I am blossoming day by day in this profession-passion.

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After a career in commerce, I decided to change careers at the age of 40. I upgraded my piano playing and musical training, then I joined the CFMI.

I was recruited as a full time musician in a Conservatoire à Rayonnement Intercommunal as soon as I obtained the dumi.

A few years later, I was awarded tenure through a competitive examination, and I am in charge of the coordination of the Music Teachers' Department.

Today I wish to upgrade my skills in the discipline of orchestra conducting, which is a prerequisite for passing the competitive examination for Professor of Artistic Education in charge of conducting conservatories.

The more I advance in my career, the more I notice the enormous richness that is transmitted to us during these two years of training. I made the most of every lesson, everything was necessary, and I never found myself without resources when faced with a new pedagogical situation. And this experience of working in a microcosm between students, where one learns to collaborate, to assert oneself or to adapt, which can be as exciting as frustrating according to the constraints, gives all the relational assets that will be put into play in the work of partnership that is inseparable from the profession of intervening musician.

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One of the most beautiful steps I have taken in my life is my passage through the CFMI in Aix en Provence. A transformative and alchemical PAS-SAGE.

Transformative because my life after that has never been the same; and alchemical because the human substance that I was at the time has been profoundly changed by the light, the intelligence and the love of the teaching staff and of my fellow students that I will keep in my heart forever.

When I decided to take that small step, all the doors opened one after the other at once. I got help from the Fongecif to finance the training and they even gave me a salary to study the first year. In the second year I used up all the money I had left from my unemployment.

Herman Hesse says in his book Demian "The bird seeks to free itself from the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wants to be born must destroy a world.

I chose to destroy my world at age 40 in 2012. A world where I was not living from music and I was not happy, doing one small job after another in a hotel, in the ski lifts of Pra loup and in the Ubaye valley in the Alpes de Haute Provence, a world without purpose, without goal, where life went by and the days looked like each other in a monotonous and joyless time loop like "The Desert of the Tartars."

When I learned about the job of a busker, a supernatural force told me that this was what I had to do, even if it meant turning my life upside down and moving to another city and region. It was written in the lines of my destiny; I had to do these 2 years of studies and obtain the precious diploma at any cost.

Being an intervening musician is not an easy job because you have to give a lot of yourself, of your physical and psychological life. After the CFMI it is another school that begins; that of life where you have to learn to give and to receive, it is a kind of apostolate and a noble work that you have to feel in your heart; a work that I have been doing for 10 years already.

Today I am employed on a permanent contract for an association (Musiphiles, Le Moulin des Sittelles) and for the Conservatory of Castres in the Tarn. I am a music teacher in 8 schools where I teach students from the first section to the fifth grade. That's more than 500 children per week. These children, who have reached CM2, all have a musical background for life, they can sing well and will never forget their elementary school and the importance of music.

For 8 years I worked in schools while at the same time directing 3 choirs and giving weekly performances in day care centers and in the disabled community. For the last 2 years I have chosen to work only with schools. The diploma opens a lot of doors but you have to think about managing your energies well.

The CDI allowed me to buy a house in the country where I live with my wife, my 4 dogs, my 3 cats, my 4 chickens and my 2 Ouessant sheep; I have my own vegetable garden and a well to water it. This is the life I wanted to have and the one I fought for.

I'll never forget one of those discouraging days in my second year when I asked the great Maïté if she thought this profession was for me and she replied by looking me in the eye: "I am convinced, without a doubt."

Thank you to the CFMI of Aix en Provence and long live the training of future music teachers.

Ignacio Agote

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After obtaining a degree in Sciences and Humanities, I entered the Conservatory of Aix-en-Provence in Current Music and French Song in 2016. After two years there, I returned to the CFMI of Aix under the guidance of Pierre Gueyrard.

I had already been working with children on artistic and musical trips since I was 19 years old, and I was looking for a training to professionalize myself in music interventions in schools.

The CFMI brought me an extraordinary richness, both musical and pedagogical, and inspiring encounters. The passion and the rigor of its trainers and its administration motivated me in such a way that I started to find what I really wanted to do.

After having validated my diploma in June 2020, I was recruited by the town hall of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon in August 2020, as a full time contractual teacher (20h/week).

I work in 5 schools (3 kindergartens, 2 elementary schools) with 26 classes per week. I have quickly benefited from the support of my superiors, as well as my colleagues, and I feel a real accomplishment to realize projects with my students and their teachers.

I am still working in the same job in Villeneuve, while conducting artistic activities (music group "Fauzene", and personal realizations), and while seeking to intervene as a trainer in song creation for children and adults.

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I had been working for a few years as a sports educator, while having an active musical practice.

I went to the CFMI's open house, before taking the entrance test.

This very rich training allowed me to deepen my musical culture and to progress in my instrumental and pedagogical practice; this is thanks to the quality of the teaching as well as to the team of permanent staff who ensure the follow-up of the students.

I was able to progress thanks to the numerous training courses and musical projects offered (music in hospitals, music from the Balkans, orchestra in schools, etc.)

Finally, these 2 years at the CFMI allowed me to benefit from a network which was very useful once I obtained my Dumi.

I am currently employed full time in a music conservatory; I work in the schools of the commune and I am in charge of musical awakening as well as musical workshops for adults in situation of handicap.

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