Young vocalists receive vital feedback at Rotary Music Festival choral session
Wednesday offered the single block of choral entrants for the 2024 Rotary Music Festival, and one director cannot believe how far her choir has come.
Justine Wilks teaches at the Medicine Hat College Conservatory of Music, and on occasion, comes into various schools to offer the students a formal choral program. This is the case for the group she attended with, which consisted of roughly 50 Grade 1 students from Dr. Ken Sauer Elementary.
“Together with the teacher, we worked with the kids twice a week for the last eight weeks to prepare for the Rotary Festival,” said Wilks. “They’ve done extremely well; they’ve been enthusiastic and well-behaved, an absolute delight to teach.”
The choir performed two pieces, If You Should Meet A Crocodile as arranged by Nancy Telfer, and Zum Gali Gali, a work song arranged by Greg Gilpin. Wilks said selecting the pieces was simple, as she had always wanted to teach these to a choir in this age group, and adds she thinks the latter is the children’s favourite due to the energetic actions it requires.
Adjudicator Jennifer Lang offered the students lessons on volume and on the importance of storytelling while singing, giving them an experience that Wilks thinks is vital for the development of young musicians.
“I just think that singing at Rotary is so important for them to have this opportunity to come and share their gift of music and to keep learning. And singing is just such a great experience for everybody,” said Wilks. “Getting them to sing for someone who’s not their teacher or parents, and learning how to take criticism and improve. It’s all so good for the arts, to introduce them really young to these kinds of formal feedback sessions.”