2013 may have just begun but the registration deadline for this year's Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival is quickly upon us! The deadline for entries this year is Saturday, Jan. 12. Entries may be delivered in-person at the North Battleford City Kinsmen Band Hall from 1 - 4 p.m. on that date or mailed to P.O. Box 1301, North Battleford, S9A 3L8. We are allowing for late entries this year. We will be accepting late entries until Jan. 19, with a $25 late entry fee.
Registration forms are available at Sobeys and the current syllabus can be found online. 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. Remember that 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.
We are again running the program cover drawing contest. Children and youth, from the Battlefords area, are invited to submit original ideas for considered use as the 2013 festival program cover. Artwork should reflect musical themes and be presented on eight and a half by 11 inch paper in a vertical or portrait orientation. Pictures may be drawn in black ink, pencil, coloured 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 Jan. 25. Entries may be submitted at the Band Hall on festival registration day or given to Kelly Waters at St. Vital School or Agi McQuaid at EMBM. Selected pieces of artwork 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 highly 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 the adjudicator come to their school to view performances. 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. I have found choral speaking activities are highly engaging for students. It is not difficult to find material both educationally valid and of interest to students. In my experience, students usually have so many wonderful ideas to draw from that you don't have to do much beyond picking strong material and organizing their creativity into a presentable form.
The music festival committee is always looking for more parents, grandparents and community-minded people to step forward and say, "How can I help?" There are tasks ranging from small-sized to large-sized to everywhere in-between-sized! If you have any interest in any size of assistance, please do not hesitate to contact a committee member or indicate your interest on your child's 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, or sponsoring a session for a music discipline of your choice or being recognized as a patron or friend of the festival. Don't be shy; we have numerous options if you are a supporter of local music education.
The current schedule for music disciplines for the 2013 Battlefords Music Festival is: speech arts, March 4 - 6; band, March 7 - 9; voice, March 10 - 15; piano, March 16 - 19; strings, March 20; and the gala, March 22.
"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain." ? Bob Marley
