OLDS — The 40th Olds & District Kiwanis Music Festival, now in its second and final week, got off to a great start, except for a disappointingly low number of musical theatre entries, coordinator Wendy Durieux says.
The festival began March 20 and ends March 29, followed by the grand concert and awards, which will be held March 30, 7 p.m. at the TransCanada Theatre and the benefit concert, which will take place April 4 at 7 p.m., also at the TransCanada Theatre.
During an interview with the Albertan, Durieux said 24 bands were entered last week, roughly on par with previous years. Organizers can accommodate up to 30 and have had that number in some previous years.
Last year, only 13 bands performed. Durieux noted that was not long after COVID restrictions were lifted, so that might account for the lower number.
“Last year of course was such a funny year. We were just getting back into things,” she said.
Entries included the Didsbury band with about 75 players and a band from Airdrie with about 95.
“Even our little ones who were beginners were really good beginners and the adjudicator commented on how wonderful our band program here is in Chinook’s Edge,” Durieux said.
Other performances included contemporary vocals and classical vocals as well as classical theatre.
“They went very well. We had some really good performances and it was really fun,” she said.
Other categories included instrumentals, percussion, woodwinds, and guitar. One ukulele player also took to the stage.
Durieux was impressed with the large audience that showed up for the solo performances.
“We don’t always have large audiences for our soloists, but everyone is so wanting to be back into the performances, to be part of actually performing live again that we actually had a really nice audience,” she said.
“All the kids were really excited to be there and excited to perform for us again, so it was really lovely.”
However, the number of musical theatre entries was far below that of previous years.
“(In previous years) we would have 90 musical (in) theatre," she said.
“We had enough that we were able to host a musical theatre showcase which just showcased 20 to 30 kids out of those 90. But this year we only had 11.”
Durieux believes the smaller number was due to COVID.
“During COVID, a lot of the teachers, the vocal teachers, either retired or stopped teaching and so they’re just trying to rebuild now,” she said.
She said musical theatre tends to be taught by teachers who also specialize in classical vocals, although some who teach contemporary music will also teach musical theatre.
Durieux said there just aren’t many classical musical theatre teachers in the community right now.
"We just need to get a few more teachers in town,” she said with a laugh.
The suggestion is if more of those teachers set up shop in the community there will be an opportunity for more students to learn that art form.
“I hope that as we go back to normal in our everyday life, that the kids will again want to get their vocal training and the musical theatre,” she said.
“The classical vocals and the musical theatre kind of go hand-in-hand.”
This week, the focus is on piano and then on Wednesday morning it’s choir.
