At the beginning of this week I was accompanying several flute and clarinet performances at the Ottawa Kiwanis Music Festival. Kiwanis is a large music competition that runs six days a week for the entire month of April, hosted at various churches in Ottawa. Hundreds of young performers enter in many different categories: piano, woodwinds, brass, strings, band, orchestra, and vocal.
Performing at festival is one way to gain performing experience. Musicians perform in a recital setting in front of an adjudicator and audience. When everyone has performed, the performers receive written and verbal feedback (and since it is a competition format, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places are awarded).
While we were just a bit nervous, we had a good experience performing (and earned some good scores too). Our adjudicator, David Gerry from McMaster University, was friendly and gave us helpful comments that we can use for our next performances. The festival runs until May 2.