She gave her first recital in Sorel and was also a piano teacher there, as well as an organist at St-Pierre Church.
Her uncle, founder of the Journal de Sorel, offered to be her patron when she left the convent.In 1896, she went to Paris, where she studied organ with EugĂšne Gigout, piano with Ălie Delaborde, theory with Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray and pedagogy with Hortense Parent.
She also studied Gregorian chant at the abbeys of France.
On 27 Oct 1898 at Karn Hall, she performed the Canadian premiere of the Rhapsodie sur des airs Canadiens for organ (Durand ca 1898), which Gigout had dedicated to her.Cartier gained broader knowledge of European methods during other trips.