Royal Conservatory Music Exams At the RecPlex

FTLComm - Tisdale June 16, 1999 All week long the Royal Conservatory of Music is holding its examinations here in Tisdale at the Recplex theatre. Students from Kelvington, Hudson Bay, Nipawin, Melfort, Weekes and all surrounding areas have been coming to town to write these important examinations that mark a milestone in their training and development in music. Monday's exams were mostly voice but on Tuesday it was

piano. The examinations are at various levels and will include theory exams. Music training has flourished under the guidance of the Royal Conservatory and its high standard of levels and exams allows students to utilise their training for high school credit but it also establishes strict standards for music instruction and is responsible for maintaining the outstanding level of competency among Canadian musicians. The young woman in the picture has completed high school and was here in Tisdale accompanying her sister who was writing her music exams. This young woman grew up in Melfort and has gone on to Mount Royal College in Calgary where she continues to study piano. For her music is not consider so much a vocation as it is a way of life and in her world the intense skill and rehearsal needed to develop the proficiency she needs is a daily and on going part of her life. She explained that she really is enjoying the experience at Calgary's Mount Royal Collage and in particular appreciates the school's small and student oriented focus that make it possible to come from Melfort and fit into that community of learners. Her recommendation of Mount Royal is echoed by many evaluators of Canada's art schools. Linda Fromm who has put out two books rating Canada's post secondary institutions has singled out Mount Royal as one of the West's best. Other schools that really cater to the airs in Western Canada are of course Emily Carr in Vancouver and Brandon University. Both of these offer students the insulated atmosphere necessary for art to blossom but at the same time cultivate the skills and excitement needed to encourage the student. It is important for a society to support and promo music, dance, art and literature for it is through our cultural development that we can best evaluate ourselves as a people and a mature society.