The "Portrait" series strives to highlight the individuals and organizations within Percumédia's client community.
For this edition, Audrey Gauthier introduces us to Lyriamuse, a unique and promising musical discovery project.
Lyriamuse, founded by Audrey Gauthier, offers a unique, playful, and educational approach to introduce young people to classical music. With over ten years of experience in music, illustration, and cultural mediation, she creates interactive content, educational sheets, activity books, custom visual and digital games for schools or institutions.
These resources, accessible and downloadable, aim to stimulate curiosity and musical taste while emphasizing creativity and enjoyment. Lyriamuse collaborates with orchestras and organizations (Orchestre Métropolitain, Arion, etc.) and offers original graphic design tailored to captivate and retain young audiences.
Lyriamuse was born from a desire to make classical music more accessible and fun. Can you tell us how this idea came about and what personal experiences influenced its creation?
My journey with music began in my youth, but a difficult experience with a violin teacher led me to turn to graphic design and illustration. In 2015, I felt the need to reconnect with my musical passion and studied for a bachelor's degree in music education. However, the offered repertoires—world music, pop, and rock—did not align with my deep aspirations for classical music.
This reflection naturally led me to a general bachelor's degree at the University of Montreal, where I discovered a DESS in music mediation. This field perfectly matched my passion for transmission and exchange, creating valuable bridges between orchestras and their audiences.
My research revealed a major and universal issue: the aging audience of classical music. Faced with this reality, cultural organizations are actively seeking to develop their youthful audience. This discovery fueled my motivation to transform the public's perception of this musical genre that deeply fascinates me.
During my final internship at Orchestre Métropolitain, extended by the pandemic over nine months, I developed an educational booklet aimed at children aged 5 to 7. I transformed this initial project, centered on instrument families, into a truly playful approach integrating games and creative activities. The success with teachers was remarkable and encouraging.
Buoyed by this success and aware that most musical organizations do not have the resources of large institutions, I decided to create my own company. The goal was clear: to assist organizations in developing their youth audience. After a four-month entrepreneurship program that helped me clarify my vision, I embarked on this adventure which, I am happy to share, is thriving.
You are both a graphic designer, illustrator, and musician. How do these different skills combine in your projects to create unique educational tools?
For a long time, I perceived my studies in these varied fields—music, graphic design, illustration—as disparate. Thanks to Lyriamuse, I have finally found a way to harmonize them in a coherent and creative manner.
Graphic design and illustration play a central role in my approach because they allow me to create visual worlds and stimulate the imagination. My goal with Lyriamuse is precisely to engage the imagination of children and adults, to transport them to unique worlds. Each person needs their own universe of escape—I offer a world, but everyone can make it their own in their own way. We all need dreams and magic in our lives.
"My goal with Lyriamuse is precisely to engage the imagination of children and adults, to transport them to unique worlds."
This approach allows organizations to customize their educational tools to reflect their identity. For the sheets I develop, this translates to a carefully crafted and engaging layout that facilitates immersion in the musical adventure. I even created a character that accompanies users throughout their journey—this supportive presence makes the experience warmer and more accessible.
My musical training brings significant added value. Music history classes taught me research rigor, information synthesis, and writing, as well as the importance of reliable sources. Authenticity is a pillar of my work, even if we must accept that absolute truth about past eras remains unreachable. My musical practice, although temporarily on hold, allows me to understand concepts with internal comprehension and convey them more naturally than someone outside the field.
Your playful-educational approach is at the heart of Lyriamuse. How would you describe this approach, and how does it differ from traditional methods of teaching classical music?
Classical music is still often presented in a very formal and conservative way. While this serious dimension has its place, I believe that delving further into it reveals an extraordinary emotional richness that deserves a more open approach.
I discovered the playful-educational approach during my academic research, notably in museum projects that created both playful and educational courses. This concept harmoniously combines two essential dimensions: play and learning. The goal is to allow young audiences to learn while having fun, creating a natural and motivating learning experience.
When learning takes place in pleasure, the body and mind integrate this positive experience. This positive association naturally creates the desire to repeat the experience, unlike difficult learning we generally seek to avoid. It is this positive dynamic that excites me in this approach.
Play offers numerous educational advantages: it motivates the learner, structures learning with clear rules, and creates an unconscious learning environment. The most valuable aspect of this approach is that it allows for learning without feeling like studying.
I favor a non-competitive approach where everyone can grasp concepts at their own pace and according to their personality. The goal is not strict evaluation but exploration and discovery. This playful dimension brings a welcome lightness to musical learning.
When learning takes place in pleasure, the body and mind integrate this positive experience. This positive association naturally creates the desire to repeat the experience, unlike difficult learning we generally seek to avoid. It is this positive dynamic that excites me in this approach.
You have collaborated with several cultural organizations, such as the Orchestre Métropolitain. What are the challenges and satisfactions of working with these institutions to develop educational tools tailored to their audience?
Each collaboration presents specific challenges related to adapting to the target audience. With Orchestre Métropolitain, we addressed 5-7-year-olds, requiring a very accessible vocabulary and maximal simplification of concepts. The exercise involves rephrasing complex notions in language suited to young children, abandoning academic definitions for intuitive explanations.
Currently, I am working with Arion Orchestre Baroque on a project aimed at middle and late primary school adolescents, as well as early secondary school students. This audience requires a different, more nuanced approach that respects their maturity while remaining accessible. The challenge is to create a unique tool that adapts to these different educational levels.
My work method favors transparency and close collaboration with the organizations' teams. I first develop a structure for validation, then propose textual content. This collaborative approach allows us to find the right tone and avoid pitfalls of a language that might feel artificial.
The themes of the project with Arion—friendship, courage, self-expression, and personal values—had to be linked to baroque music while demonstrating its contemporary relevance. The constant challenge is to balance content richness and the necessary conciseness to keep the audience's attention.
Interactivity is a key element of my tools. I develop PDFs with clickable links and pop-up elements that gather all resources into a single document. Balance is crucial: too many links disrupt flow, but videos and multimedia content significantly enrich the experience.
A recurring challenge concerns the availability of local video content. I strive to showcase local artists and organizations as much as possible, but the scarcity of concert recordings poses an obstacle. This reality sometimes leads me to use more abundant European resources, which runs counter to my desire to promote the local music scene.
As a solopreneur, you manage Lyriamuse alone. What are the main challenges you encounter in this entrepreneurial adventure and how do you address them?
Solo entrepreneurship presents unique challenges. Although I initially wanted to find a partner, I realize that my field remains very specialized. Additionally, when developing a project, it naturally becomes personal—we develop our own methods, standards, and requirements.
Isolation is a real challenge. Working alone limits creative exchanges and discussions that feed innovation. Fortunately, I can rely on a supportive network of friends offering advice and external perspectives.
Managing all aspects of the business—creation, administration, accounting, communication, and social media—represents a significant challenge. Sometimes, I feel like I spend more time on promotion than on creation itself, which can be frustrating.
Financial viability is also a major issue. Developing Lyriamuse alongside my main job, during evenings and weekends, limits growth speed. However, this gradual approach allows me to maintain financial stability while gradually investing in the business.
Currently, I am rethinking the educational sheet offering by reaching out directly to music teachers in Québec and Francophone Canada. This public approach is a significant moment: I expose myself directly to my target audience to validate the alignment of my tools with their needs.
The most rewarding aspect remains the satisfaction of seeing concrete achievements and positive feedback from partner organizations. Each step, even difficult, contributes to the company's evolution and product improvement. Periods of discouragement are part of the process, but the overall vision remains motivating.
Financial management remains delicate as entrepreneurship requires constant investments of time, energy, and financial resources. While many free resources exist, they quickly reach their limits. Strategic investments are therefore essential to maintain growth and service quality.
What are your future projects for Lyriamuse? Are you considering developing new formats or collaborating with other artistic disciplines to enrich the musical experience?
The future of Lyriamuse is full of exciting possibilities. I keep a constant journal of ideas because creativity knows no limits. However, I prioritize a structured approach by focusing on one project at a time to avoid scattering. Several promising collaborations are under discussion. Although I cannot reveal details yet, these recent meetings open stimulating prospects for the near future.
A recent request from a music teacher regarding jazz intrigued me. This musical genre is indeed in my future projects, but I first want to consolidate and enrich my classical music offering.
I am currently developing a new format of sheets, which I am testing with teachers. Their feedback will determine the relevance of this innovative approach.
A particularly exciting project is taking shape: animated biographies of two minutes maximum tracing the life of composers. These colorful and dynamic mini-biographies will offer an accessible and playful entry into the world of these creators. I plan to accompany them with complementary activities and games to enrich the learning experience.
The fall season promises to be particularly active. Summer will allow me to fine-tune these ongoing projects.
My long-term vision for Lyriamuse is ambitious. I envision collaborations with broadcasters like Télé-Québec and the development of public workshops in libraries and other cultural venues. For these large-scale projects, I am actively seeking collaborators as some challenges require a collective approach.
The future of Lyriamuse is set to be rich in innovations and partnerships, always guided by the fundamental mission: to make classical music accessible, fun, and exciting for all audiences.
*** All illustrations in this article were created by Audrey Gauthier. To learn more about Lyriamuse, visit the website lyriamuse.com.