As an educator I was proud that the 2013 Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival opened Monday, March 4 with a morning of choral speech at Bready School and an afternoon at St. Vital School featuring St. Vital students along with the BCS Grade 4S class. If you are a teacher reading this who has not yet considered using choral speaking in the classroom, it is a fun, educational option for exploring curriculum based outcomes and themes. Poetry and storytelling material might range from serious to silly and potentially draw from picture books or even song lyrics. Choral speaking lends itself to most academic subjects but especially the language arts of course.
Band sessions continue through Saturday afternoon, March 9 in Logie Hall at Third Avenue United Church. Vocal sessions commence Sunday afternoon, March 10 at 1:30 p.m. All vocal sessions will be held in Logie Hall.
It will be a joy to hear the Battlefords Children's Junior Choir open with The Penguin Ball by Donna Rhodenizer. The afternoon will also include lovely renditions of sacred music. And if you thought performing in the music festival was only for young people, perhaps you should come out Sunday night to hear the mature but young-at-heart members of the Gallery Singers perform Aaron Copland arranged folk songs.
If you are a musical theatre fan then you are in for a treat as a variety of excerpts may be enjoyed every night beginning Monday, March 11 and ending Thursday, March 14. Our vocal adjudicator, lecturer and workshop clinician, Harold Wiens, has appeared as a soloist and as a recitalist with orchestras and choral societies in cities in Germany, France, Ireland, Ukraine, Canada and the United States. He has premiered many new compositions, including works written especially for him by composers Violet Archer, Gerhard Krapf and Alfred Fischer. During the past several years, Wiens has given masters classes and conference presentations in parts of Europe, Â鶹´«Ã½AV America and Asia.
Vocal sessions end Friday evening, March 15 with piano sessions gloriously opening with Cailyn Driedger and Andrew Hudec's version of O Canada and God Save the Queen Saturday, March 16 at 9:30 a.m. The four days of piano sessions are all in Logie Hall. Carol Konecsni-Christie, piano adjudicator, opened her Regina studio in 1980 and currently commutes to her students' homes in the Fort Qu'Appelle and Balcarres area while additionally teaching from her own home in Dysart. She enjoys duo piano work alongside her sister, Sarah Konecsni, and coaching the local church choir with her parents.
All sessions are open to the public with donations towards festival expenses gratefully accepted at the door of venues. 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.
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 a musical theatre characters demands otherwise, it is appropriate to avoid jeans and t-shirts; err on the side of modesty if uncertain.
After the completion of speech arts, band, vocal sessions and piano, 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.
"It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself." - Johann Sebastian Bach
