Feeling Competitive?

In my capacity as a local music store owner/professional teacher, I talk to a lot of different people in the community.

Everyone is talking about the Summer Olympics in the sports world. Some of our students also participate in sports. Students, parents and teachers will ask from time to time why we only have exams but not competitions. In checking around, there isn't a lot of competitive events for younger students.
Lately, some of you have been asking me where can we enter our students. Giving students a reason to practice is one of the benefits of entering them in events.

So my long time friend and amazing musician, Joanne (who is a record producer) and I (music store owner/professional teacher)  are putting together an easy, friendly,  competition for the school age musicians.

We are starting with:
1. Vocal Competition

2. Piano Invitational: This is for students who participated in the Lake Central Federation Festival at University of Central Florida in February, 2016 They can reuse their required pieces.

3. Piano Classic: This is for any student who plays classical music. They can pick their piece from the Music Development Program 2015 syllabus and enter one piece off the A, B, or C list. So students who are in the MDP can reuse their piece. Those who aren't can probably find something listed that they play already.

Parents enter the student information and pay online at www.toptalentcompetition.com The parents need to have or set up a Youtube account. The parents will video the student and put the link to the performance on the entry form on the website when they register. We will have professionals view each entry and give them a rating/comments sheet of suggestions where they can improve and what they did well. The students will get a participation award. There will  be a Gold, Silver, and Bronze winner in the assorted categories.

We have more competitions in the planning phase. The deadline for the first one is June 15. There will be a Talent Showcase and award ceremony at Steinway Piano Galleries on June 26. 

For more information go to: www.toptalentcompetition.com

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