The 2013 Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival opens in just over a week on Monday, March 4 at 9:30 a.m. with choral speech at Bready School. The afternoon of that opening day showcases more choral speech across the river at St. Vital School.
Logie Hall in Third Avenue United Church is the location for a Monday evening of individual speech arts with an additional morning of choral speech Tuesday morning at Bready School. The remaining speech arts sessions will be in Logie Hall Tuesday afternoon and during the day Wednesday. Look for the posters around town outlining all session dates and times. If you have considered offering a little of your time volunteering for the festival, it's not too late to let a committee member know. Note that all sessions are open to the public. Donations towards festival expenses are gratefully accepted at the door of venues.
The program for this year's Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival is available for $7 at Sobeys. You will love the adorable cover created by contest winner Grade 6 student Kaila Robertson from Bready School. Additionally, the speech arts section features a creation by EMBM's Grade 4 student Dominique Esquirol. The band portion title page features Jenaya Ferguson of Grade 3 from Maidstone's Ratushniak Elementary School with additional works within the section by Russell Trace of Grade 3 at BCS, Ashley Taylor of Grade 8 at St. Vital School and Grade 6 student Gavin Beatch also of St. Vital. Kellie Opwam's work of Grade 4 at BCS announces the vocal/choral section with additional vocal themed creations by BCS's Grade 3 student Hayden Ouellette and Bready's Grade 6 student Jett Yeund. Another Grade 6 Bready student's work, Tiarra Moore, marks the piano section along with Kate Fransoo of Grade 4 at EMBM and Nikkolas Rennie of Grade 4 at BCS. The strings section features submissions by Kate Keller of Grade 6 at Holy Family and Ericka Alsager of Grade 4 at Ratushniak. The final section outlining available awards showcases Grade 6 Bready student Sarah Shaban.
When coming out to support young musicians from our community, please keep good performance manners and etiquette in mind. Performers have one opportunity to showcase their work making it incredibly frustrating to hear a cell phone ring or vibrate, people whispering or attempts to enter or leave the room during a performance. Any distraction during a performance in progress or while the adjudicator is speaking must be avoided; this includes texting and perfumed scents. No photography or video recordings are allowed during performances, adjudications or certificate presentations. Performers should dress and behave in a manner respectful of the festival. Unless your musical theatre characters demands otherwise, it is appropriate to avoid jeans and t-shirts; err on the side of modesty if uncertain. And finally, congratulate all performers for their accomplishments and successes.
If you are a teacher or participant, make sure you're abiding by festival entry rules and regulations. Any music being viewed by the adjudicator or used in the performance must be an original copy. The music handed in to the adjudicator must have the first bar of each line numbered and be handed in to the session's secretary prior to the start of each session. It is prohibited to practice in venue performance areas during the festival dates except in designated rehearsal or warm-up areas. And please arrive on time.
In case you've missed introductions to this year's guest adjudicators, the speech arts adjudicator is Ian Nelson of Saskatoon, band adjudicator Larry Shrum and vocal adjudicator Harold Wiens are both from Edmonton, Alta., the piano adjudicator is Carol Konecsni-Christie of Dysart, and the strings adjudicator is Joan Savage of Saskatoon.
Speech Arts runs from Monday, March 4 through Wednesday, March 6. Band sessions run Thursday, March 7 through Saturday, March 9. Vocal sessions run from Sunday, March 10 through Friday, March 15 followed by four days of piano performances from Saturday, March 16 through Tuesday, March 19. The festival will close with strings on Wednesday, March 20. The celebratory gala and awards ceremony will be held on Friday, March 22 at Third Avenue United Church.
"To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable." ? Aaron Copland
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