Young musicians across the Foothills were fine-tuned as they stepped before adjudicators last weekend.
Dozens competed in the Highwood Lions Music Festival at the High River United Church on April 6, many walking away with scholarships, awards of superiority and excellence and recommendations to compete at the provincial festival in Edmonton at the end of May.
Holy Trinity Academy student Eilish McAree received excellence in composition and was recommended for provincials. This marks the third time she’s been invited to provincials.
In addition, her school quintet received excellence in woodwind/brass/percussion ensemble.
“We’re passionate about music and it’s fun to win,” she said. “We want to show people what we can do.”
McAree joined the quintet last September.
“It’s like a nice stress relief, especially when I’m composing music for all five instruments on the piano,” she said.
Instruments in the quartet include the clarinet, French horn, flute and oboe. McAree plays the bassoon.
Also showing off their music skills were the Cayley School fiddlers and ukulele ensemble. The school received scholarships of excellence for both its Grades 6-8 fiddle club and Grades 7-8 ukulele group.
Both groups were invited back to the adjudicators’ showcase.
“I was pleased with the effort they put into it,” said Barb Haney Jones, Cayley School’s string specialist. “Some of the fiddle kids have been playing since they were in kindergarten and one just started in September. They have to give up their lunch hours to practice.”
Cayley School has the only school fiddle group in the region, which is offered to Grades 1-5 students, and ukulele group, which began as an in-class option for the junior high school students this year, said Haney Jones.
“We were trying to branch out into other areas for the kids,” she said. “Because we’re a small school we don’t have a great amount of options to offer to the kids as larger schools do. We’re just trying to have more chances for the kids to explore different things.”
Getting the students in front of adjudicators is a great way to boost their talent, said Haney Jones.
“They bring in fantastic adjudicators to work with the kids,” she said. “We always come away feeling good about our performance but knowing things we can do to be better which is why we always go.”
Matthew Ellis, Alberta High School of Fine Arts director of vocal music, also values feedback from the festival’s adjudicators.
“As a performance-based class it’s a really good educational experience for them,” he said. “After we do a performance the adjudicator speaks to them about what they’ve done well and what they can continue to work on. To hear it from a professional from a university or a professor has a really big impact.”
The school’s vocal ensemble received a superior rating, provincial recommendation and scholarship of excellence and the concert choir an excellence rating at the festival.
It was the concert choir’s first year at the festival, said Ellis.
“The vocal ensemble typically gets a superior and provincial recommendation,” he said. “The vocal ensemble just really puts the work in. They go above and beyond. I’ve been so proud to be a part of what it is they do.”
