In this special but busy season, much of the important music festival information mentioned in last week's Fanfare bears repeating.
After the New Year is rung in there will be only two weeks until the 2012 Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival registration deadline. The deadline for entries is Saturday, Jan. 14. Entries may be delivered in-person at the North Battleford City Kinsmen Band Hall from 1 to 4 p.m. or mailed to Box 1301, North Battleford, S9A 3L8. Late entries are accepted this year until Jan. 20, with a $25 late entry fee per participant.
The speech arts are part of vocal class categories. The festival committee highly encourages schools to consider 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 that is both educationally valid and of interest to students. The students usually have so many wonderful ideas to draw from you don't have to do much beyond picking strong material and organizing their creativity into a presentable form. So why not jump in and give choral speaking a whirl in your classroom?
We are confident that another amazing program cover contest entry will add unique musical flavour resulting in a keepsake for performers and family members. Children and youth from the Battlefords area are invited to submit original ideas for considered use as the 2012 festival program cover. Artwork should reflect musical themes and be presented on 8 by 11 paper. The deadline is Jan. 23. 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 artwork not chosen for the cover may also be featured within the pages of the program. We look forward to viewing your creative musical expressions again this year!
Registration forms for the 2012 Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival are available at Sobeys and the current provincial syllabus may be accessed on line. The current schedule for music disciplines is: Speech Arts March 8 - 10. Strings March 9, Piano March 10 - 13, Voice March 13 - 18, Band March 9 - 21, Gala March 23.
With our festival costs inching up, fees for solos, duets, and trios are increasing by $1 making the new fee per entry $13. Other entry categories will remain the same and we continue to encourage multiple entries by offering the family rate of a 50 per cent discount after 10 solo entries by a given individual participant.
Meanwhile, enjoy the sights, tastes, and sounds of the season as we look forward with musical anticipation to 2012.
