The 2014 Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival continued into it's second week with two days of spectacular musical theatre performances. Vocal entries were featured the three following days, showcasing both budding beginner and more established senior vocalists along with many small and large ensemble presentations.
School choral speech entries filled a day at Bready School Wednesday continuing with solo performances into Thursday. The festival closes with piano sessions that begin Saturday, April 5, at 9 a.m. in Logie Hall in Third Avenue United Church. Piano performances continue through the afternoon of Monday, April 7, so it's not too late to catch some musical action. As with the vocal entries, there will be the opportunity to hear those just beginning on their musical education journey on through those who have several years under their belt as they near graduation, heading out into the world beyond high school.
I have written about the benefits for youth participating in musical education activities in terms of brain development and acquisition of work ethic skills. Thinking about those senior students preparing to head out to new ventures which may or may not include a music focus, I will reference the website, Raise Smart Kid, which states: more music majors who applied for medical school were admitted compared to those in other majors including English, biology, chemistry and math.
Additionally according to the site, musical training before age seven is linked with more white matter in the corpus callosum part of the brain, as well as better performance on visual sensorimotor synchronization tasks, according to a study conducted by scientists from Concordia University and the Montreal Neurological Institute Hospital at McGill University. By these arguments, musical training not only raises smart kids but smart adults, which means those senior music students have improved their odds for success through their many years of commitment to musical training.
The celebratory gala and awards ceremony for this year's festival will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9th in Logie Hall at Third Avenue United Church. Admission is $5 per person or $15 per family with free admission for award recipients and award presenters. Come on out to enjoy a few adjudicator-chosen highlighted performances from the festival and to help honour the numerous young people from our community receiving special recognition courtesy of local individuals and businesses. The awards and scholarships will be presented at the conclusion of the performances with refreshments following. And be sure to enjoy the inspiring youth artwork adorning the walls of Logie Hall contributed by program cover contest entrants.
All regular festival sessions are open to the public. Donations towards festival expenses are gratefully accepted at the door of venues. The $7 printed festival programs are available at the door of venues.
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. Contact Shianne Revet at 306-445-5756 or 306-481-6302 if you are interested.
Look for information in the festival program to see festival supporters featured and perhaps you might consider supporting the festival through these mechanisms. We again salute all those who contributed financially to the semi-concert grand piano restoration in Logie Hall. This was a $6,000 refurbishment project.
"Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without." -Confucius, The Book of Rites
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