2015 may have just begun but the registration deadline for this year鈥檚 Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival is quickly approaching. The deadline for entries this year is Saturday, Jan. 17.
Note that the location for in-person deliveries of entries on that day has changed this year. Entries may be delivered in person at Ecole Monseigneur Blaise Morand from 1 鈥� 4 p.m. on that date or mailed to Box 1301, North Battleford, S9A 3L8, postmarked by Jan. 17.聽
The festival is allowing for late entries again this year. Late entries may be delivered to 362 - 37th St. no later than 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, with a $25 late entry fee per entrant.
Registration forms are available at Sobeys and the current syllabus can be found online http://www.smfa.ca/Administration/Syllabus/20132015_SMFA_Syllabus.pdf. Fees for solos, duets and trios remain at $13 per entry and we continue to encourage multiple entries by offering the family rate of a 50 per cent discount after 10 solo entries by individual participants.
The Battlefords festival entry fees are still lower than those suggested in the provincial syllabus. It is our goal to encourage participation by keeping fees affordable.
The program cover drawing contest is once again being offered. Children and youth, from the Battlefords area, are invited to submit original ideas for considered use as the 2015 festival program cover.
Artwork should reflect musical themes and be presented on letter-size paper in a vertical or portrait orientation. Pictures may be drawn in ink, pencil, colored pencil, marker or crayon but should have a white background. Artists must print their full name, phone number, school and grade on the back of their entry. The deadline is Feb. 7. Entries may be submitted at EMBM on festival registration day, mailed to the address above or submitted to Kelly Waters at St. Vital School or Agi McQuaid at EMBM.
Selected pieces of artwork that are not chosen for the cover may also be featured within the pages of the program. Also look for festival venues to feature and display other worthy entries. We are confident another amazing program cover contest entry will add unique musical flavour resulting in a keepsake for performers and family members.
The festival committee encourages schools to consider ensemble choral speaking entries. Schools have the option to travel to a festival venue for adjudication or, with a minimum of five group entries, request that the adjudicator come to their school.
Choral speaking lends itself easily to language arts and arts education curriculum learning objectives. Speech arts are a fun way to creatively explore written text using dynamics, tempo, rhythm and dramatic expression. Choral speaking activities are highly engaging for students and offer safety in numbers for those students less comfortable with public speaking. It is not difficult to find material that is both educationally valid and of interest to students. In my experience, students usually have so many wonderful ideas from which to draw you don鈥檛 have to do much beyond picking strong material and organizing their creativity into a presentable form.
Thank you to Dianne Gryba for stepping up to sit as president for the music festival committee this year as well as several other new volunteers offering committee support and guidance. The committee is always looking for more parents, grandparents, and community-minded people to step forward and say, 鈥淗ow can I help?鈥� If you have any interest in offering support, please do not hesitate to contact a Committee member or indicate your interest on your child鈥檚 registration form. If your time is not available but you or your business would like to support the festival monetarily, consider sponsoring an award to be presented at the final gala event, sponsoring a session for a music discipline of your choice or being recognized as a patron or friend of the festival. Don鈥檛 be shy. We have numerous options from small-sized to large-sized if you are supporter of local music education.
The current聽tentative schedule, pending actual entries, for the 2015 Battlefords Music Festival is: piano March 16 鈥� 1; band March 19 鈥� 20, strings March 20, musical theatre March 21 鈥� 22, voice March聽23 鈥� 25, speech arts March 26-27 and gala March 29.
鈥淚f music be the food of love, play on.鈥� 鈥� William Shakespeare
