The Parkland Music Festival is scheduled to be hosted in the Preeceville and Sturgis areas from March 26 to April 1, 2017.
"It is our turn this year to host the festival," said Anna Russell, president. The hosting of the festival is shared between Canora and Preeceville. The deadline for entries is January 31 with three different categories featured.
The band/instrumental competition is scheduled to be held at the Sturgis Composite High School gymnasium, Russell said. The vocal/speech arts and piano are to be held between the Grace United in Sturgis and the Trinity United in Preeceville.
The speech arts competitions are scheduled to be featured in Preeceville on March 30 and 31.
"Most people speak; some speak far too much, so what is it that makes some people so easy to listen to?" said Sheila Ivanochko, Parkland Music Festival representative. "Although speech is a natural action for many people, the development of speech arts techniques takes ordinary speech to a whole new level.
“The skilful use of a speaker’s tools, including breath, volume, articulation, gestures and eye contact, changes ordinary speech into an art,” Ivanochko said. There is no better time to develop speech arts skills than as a child or youth. Self-confidence soars as a child learns to stand at the front and entertain his or her audience with stories, poems and dramatic excerpts, and the skills developed will serve one well in adult life.
"This competition tends to be a real crowd pleaser as the content is often humorous and theatrical," she said.
Speech arts categories offer classes for both groups (choral speech) and individuals, and all classes are further broken down by age, ranging from six years and under up to adult, open.
"There are poetry classes in which the selection is set, and a myriad of others where the competitor chooses his or her own poem in categories such as Canadian poetry, sonnets, and individual verse," she said. "The drama enthusiast can choose to enter solo scene, solo Shakespeare, duet scene, and duet Shakespeare. There are yet more options in categories such as storytelling, sacred reading and public speaking."
Entry forms will be available at all schools, from local music teachers, or at the Saskatchewan Music Festival Association’s website at smfa.ca. For more information regarding speech arts entries, one may contact Anna Russell or Sheila Ivanochko.
