"I am Aldolpho!"

It's the final day of the music section, and of course we've kicked off with an absolute monster of a class taking up the entire morning, the Songs from the Shows Under 12 - originally with 36 entrants, but with a few dropouts we were down to 32.... which is still loads! And this was almost a production in itself, with such a huge amount of effort going into each performance, costume, and props - some highlights include an amazing costume of 'Mike Wazowski' from Monster's Inc, and flying inflatable men! I did feel that perhaps the dancing and movement in general got in the way a bit from the singing. We have just had the Dance Festival, and I wonder how many of these were also used for that festival and this one - nothing wrong with that on the whole, but the focus for this class really should be the singing (and if you were doing it again in the drama section, it would be the acting that is most important), and everything else should enhance the performance, not detract. Ben Costello himself did mention in his feedback that movement can cause things to go awry if not carefully managed. There are ways to tailor the same song to fit different class setups, so perhaps this is a consideration for all the competitors in the future. However, some wonderful songs on show here, with particular highlights for me including Jacob Morgan's performance of 'Different' from Honk, which he delivered with good projection and convincing emotions, and Harriet Lord's beautiful rendition of 'Let's Go Fly a Kite'. Ben also mention how it was lovely to hear so many more of the legit musical theatre songs (such as Rogers & Hammerstein) in this class, and he encouraged the students and others to keep exploring the older repertoire. Some great work all round, with placings going to Lottie Colmer and Bea Wilson ('Anything you Can Do') and Florence Sparkes ('Quiet') in 3rd, Ruby Coyde ('Happy Working Song') and Elodie Kenealy ('Sayonara') in 2nd. The winner of this super class was Bea Wilson with a Distinction performance of 'Party Dress'

Mia Larbalestier with the Self-Accompanied
and Songs from the Shows Trophies

Kicking off the afternoon session, yet MORE Songs from the Shows, this time from the 12 & Under 15, who sadly were in short supply! A bit of an ill-timed school trip and lots of illness meant we were down to 6 performers instead of 14, but none-the-less, some really great song choices and performances here. The winner of this class was Mia Larbalestier with a Distinction for her performance of 'Good Morning Baltimore' from Hairspray. Continuing on we had two guitar classes, the Electric Guitar Open, and the Guitar; Spanish/Acoustic/Classical Under 14 - I don't know if you could get more diametrically opposite with the same instrument! In the Open, we had Sam Cole demonstrate his fine skills as a guitarist earning himself a Distinction and the amazingly named 'Rock God' award, and the winner of the Classical class was again Mia Labalestier also with Distinction. Props to Mia as well, who is self-taught on the instrument, and has only been learning for a year! 

Next up we had another small class, the Piano Solo; TV, Film, Shows Under 18 fielding two competitors, Sam Cole performing 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and Sicely Mountford performing 'The Toy'. Again, some wonderful playing here, Sam in particularly managed to cover the entirety of the people I think, and managed to get all the amazing soundscapes from the films in his performance, earning himself another Distinction and the trophy. We finished off the afternoon with another small class, the Vocal Self-Accompanied Under 18. Ben did comment on how he's seen a lot of performers over the week that could easily have done this class, and I agree, more of you next time please! We had two performances with piano from Sicely Mountford and Isabelle Lees, and Mia Larbalestier chose to accompany herself on the Ukulele. On this occasion, Mia was victorious with her sincere and well balanced performance of 'Let it Be', earning a Highly Commended. 

The final evening session always seems to have a bit of a character about it, concluding usually with some of the more unusual classes of the festival - more on that in a second, as first I will talk about the special awards, which were peppered throughout the evening, but I will talk about them all together. Here's a list of who won what:

The Janet Bran Cup for the most promising junior singer 

– Genevieve Evans

The Marjorie Guillemette Cup for the most promising junior pianist 

– Archie Purdue

The Freeman Cup and Award for the most promising junior string player 

– George Walker

The E H Bodman Trophy for the most promising junior woodwind or brass player 

– Deanna Mahy

The Marion Blondel Cup for highest marks across certain senior vocal classes

– Joan Le Flem

The June Bourget Trophy for the most outstanding junior or senior choir 

– The Accidentals 

The De La Rue Trophy for the most outstanding junior or senior instrumental ensemble 

– St Sampsons Sound Stage

The Longmire Baton for the most outstanding conductor or director 

– Sarah Tennant

The Peter A Malley Memorial Trophy for anyone who has entered into the spirit of the Eisteddfod 

– Lindsey Veillard

The Miriam R Le Page Prix D’Honneur Trophy for the most memorable performance 

– Zaheer Anees

The Adjudicator’s Cup; awarded for any reason at the Adjudicators discretion 

– Archie Purdue

From my personal viewpoint, all absolutely worthy winners of these awards this year. I'm particularly pleased for Zaheer for winning the most memorable performance with his Vibraphone piece, and right on the first day - definitely made a lasting impression. Someone who I would like to hope was a contended who I'd like to mention is Sam Cole. I think he really showed such fine musicianship this year, across all his instruments, and his stunning Violin Solo in the Open class that earned him a 91 will stick in my mind, that's for sure. 

We kicked off the evening session with two duet classes; the Piano Duet Open, and the Piano Duet Over 18. In the Open, we had Benjamin Childs and Mervyn Grand performing 'Slavonic Dance No. 1' by Dvorak (one of my favourite sets of piano duets). Some excellent playing all around here, with some good pedal work from Benjamin, and some seemingly effortless scalic runs from Mervyn, earning them a Distinction. Myself and my mother performed in the Over 18, playing three movements from a set of duets by Amy Beach; 'The Brownies', 'Twilight', and 'Elfin Tarantelle'. My mother made a comment before we started about how all of her pieces this year had been by female composers, not because she was sexist, but that for 65 years she'd been playing works by men, and it was time to celebrate the women, which was received with a rapturous applause. I whole-heartly agree, and I'll go as far as to say my mum has been a bit of my own personal hero this year for the way she has championed the music of female composers, including me. I encourage and emplore more musicians, directors and conductors to programme music from a wider cross-section of the population; women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, go looking for them, you won't regret it! I was pleased with how we played, although I'll be honest, I think Ben was generous with an 87! Not complaining though, happy to win with a Distinction! Next up we had the Family Class, featuring a really lovely presentation from the Miller Family, consisting of four family members (mum, dad and two children), and a wonderful array of instruments, including vocals, two guitars, one cajon and a flute! This family made a gorgeous folk ensemble, with wonderful multi-instrumental playing and a great feel for the genre. They were awarded a Highly Commended, although I personally thought this deserved a little more, as I thought this was just heart-warming and beautiful to watch. 

And then..... we descended into madness! The Grade One-A-Thon - initially conceived as a one-off class for the Eisteddfod's centennery, but it proved to be so popular it was back this year and I believe is now a permanent fixture. The premise is that competitors are given their instrument choice in January, and have up until the eisteddfod to source their instrument and practice a piece at grade 1 level. Over all, the presentations were actually rather good, with most acheiving the level of playing you would expect to hear from say the Under 9 violin or Under 10 piano. But it was also, absolutely hilarious, as so many of the performers choose to give their performances a little something extra, in the form of sparkly jackets, costumes, and lots and lots of self-depricating humour. Honestly, Owen Cole I think you've missed your calling as a standup comedian! Highlights for me in this class: Owen Cole's 'research', Ian Wood's nod to Liberache, and Lindsey Davis' utterly hysterical performance of 'I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas' on the trombone.... complete with dancing hippo in the background! This is definitely a great addition to the festival classes, and I think represents what the spirit of the festival is about - getting up there and having a go! It was won this year by Mia Labalestier on Clarinet, which proved to be a fourth win for her today, what a way to finish your festival! 

'Hedge Veg' - only in Guernsey

And finally, the Novelty Songs Over 18... I swear, this class leaves each adjudicator leavingthe island thinking we're all mad as a box of frogs - if you missed this class, well, you missed out, because it was a fabulous display of music and comedy blended so wonderfully. Particularly props from me for 'Hillbilly Princess', which was written by performer David Herschel, and performed with suitable country style by himself and Emma Lancaster. Other highlight include:
- a seagul impersonation whilst playing the piano
- cape-ography
- more innuendo than you can shake a stick at
- cycling and playing a djembe at the same time
- a lifesize model of the adjudicator.... yes, really.... 

Hard to pick a winner out of this bunch of nutters, and so Ben decided to award joint first to Darren Alderton for 'To Excess' and Steve Rouxell for 'I am Aldolpho', both being awarded an Outstanding mark of 90. 

A fitting close to a great festival this year, so many wonderful performances to remember, and I hope everyone who took part is proud of their achievements and are already thinking about next year - I know I am! 

Thank you Ben - here's to more music making!