Violettes by Becky Announces Winners of National Children’s Music Competition

Written by Becky Chaffee
Published: April 19, 2014 at 11:02 AM [UTC]

I have chosen Children’s Music Causes for “Giving Back” with my business. A youth music composition is one of the many ways I have chosen to accomplish this; so in fall of 2013, I held my 1st Annual Composition Competition for Youth.

My business, ViolettesbyBecky.com, from Knoxville, TN, held its 1st Annual Music Composition Competition for Youth with the challenge to write a song with or without words titled “Being Me Now”. The title was interpreted loosely to mean anything the kids write is about them, and judging was difficult to balance between creativity and technicalities. The winners are from California, Illinois, New York and Maryland, with honorable mentions from British Columbia and Florida. There were 2 stings winners, (2nd place and honorable mention)although several of the pianist composers also play string instruments and write string compositions too.

The 1st place $100, went to 16 year old Calif. composer, David Ghesser for his piano composition, “Impresseions”. You can view his entry on http://www.ViolettesbyBecky.com/blog. he recently completed a cello piece, as he is an avid composer.

2nd Place: Helena Abbey-McPeek, 13, Chicago, Illinois, string quartet,
Prize: ViolettesbyBecky.com Violin Purse/gig bag or $50
3rd Place: Tie, Leon Yu, 15, Ardsley, NY, Piano and Griffin Koelbel, 14, Brooklyn, NY, Piano
Prize: ViolettesbyBecky.com Piano Purses or $25
4rth Place: Juliana Lynch, 15, Frederick, Maryland, Piano and Voice
Prize: ViolettesbyBecky.com Piano Purse or $15
Honorable Mentions: Jill Collis, 16, British Columbia, Canada, fiddle, Benjamin Noah Shifrel, 10, Brooklyn, NY, Piano and Christopher Moore, 10, Coconut Creek, Florida, Piano.

We had 2 notable generous volunteer judges take great care with comments for each music student on their entry. They are Judge No. 1, Grammy Award winner, Maestro Lucas Richman, composer and Director of Music for both the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (KSO) and Bangor SO in Maine. He comments that “I am always interested in doing whatever I can to help foster and guide creativity from our younger generations. The mentorship that I received in my own formative years has always stayed with me and, if the competition entries were any indication of the talent being mentored today around the country, I would say that we will have some very bright spots arising on the musical horizon.”; and Judge No. 2, Klezmer Jazz composer, musician, and writer, Paul Brody, who is in an April 2014 German Time Magazine issue for his new album, The Rose Auslander Project, and has records with his band, Sadawi, on Tzadik and Enja records labels. Next year we would like to pair mentors with students thru skype. If you are interested in being notified about our next competition as a competitor, mentor or judge, please contact Violettes thru our web site or facebook page and signup for our newsletter. Keep watch on our facebook page and blog entries to learn about some of the submissions and children who entered them.

It’s exciting to me to think that I have encouraged even one child with creativity! I hope to see the competition grow (and get more string composition entries)!!

Please think of Violettes by Becky when you need unique gifts. We sell musical instrument shaped purses and gig bags all designed by Becky (me) in addition to other music themed gifts. Purchases will help support and grow the youth music competition.

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