By LETHBRIDGE HERALD on December 24, 2020.
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Canada Music Week (Nov. 22-28), the Lethbridge Branch of the Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association (ARMTA) produced a video of students playing works by Canadian Composers. The video was viewed by students, teachers and families by Zoom on Nov. 28.
The video recital featured 29 students performing selections by Canadian composers including Anne Crosby Gaudet, Christine Donkin, Nancy Telfer, Linda Niamath, Clifford Poole, Andrew Markow, Pierre Gallant, Jean Coulthard, Stephen Chatman, Boris Berlin and Alexina Louie. Students participated in a scavenger hunt looking for clues about Canadian composers on informational slides that were part of the video recital inserted between performers. Nineteen students submitted scavenger hunt entries for 10 gift-card prizes drawn on Dec. 5.
During the live portion of the video watch party, 42 students were recognized as annual student exam award recipients. More than $2,000 in award money was disbursed to students for the highest marks in practical and theory exams obtained during the December 2019-August 2020 examination sessions, including the ARMTA Recognition Fund Student Awards given to seven students with the highest marks in both a practical and theory exam – Melora Bowie, Justine Hendrick, Maren Livingstone, Amy Quan, Selina Sun, Jerry Wang and Zitong Wu. The ARMTA Recognition Fund was established in 2008. Its purpose is to augment prizes for music competitions and awards in Alberta.