An eight-year-old local girl received an honourable mention for a song she composed on the piano in an international competition for young musicians, in which more than 12,000 children participated.
Sophie Loose is in a program offered by certified music teacher Lisa Siakaluk called Music for Young Children that offers children the opportunity to learn music by integrating keyboard, creative movement, rhythm, ear training, sight reading, music theory and composition.
Siakaluk said parent participation is a big part of the success she sees in her classroom.
Loose, who has been in the program for three years, is in the Sunbeam Category 3 for seven- and eight-year-olds and she composed the song Rainbows. She will receive a certificate for her efforts. Honourable mention is essentially fifth place in the Sunbeam 3 category, where 1,990 children participated from across Canada, U.S., New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam.
To create the composition, the children took an idea and met the criteria of the competition including repeating a theme, adding retrograde, sequences, adding certain measures and keys, with the option of adding words. The composition also had to be presented in the child's own handwriting.
Tami Loose, Sophie's mom said Sophie loves the program. Sophie is a very shy girl and didn't have much to say about the honourable mention other than to nod in agreement that it was fun to create Rainbows for the contest.
"The Music for Young Children program develops a love of music," said Siakaluk. "The program is taught in a classroom atmosphere and I believe that helps when the children get to perform in front of other people because they perform in front of their classmates all the time."
Siakaluk said she is very happy Sophie placed so well in the international competition.
"I am so thrilled at where she rated and I'm proud of all my students," said Siakaluk. "I am really excited about where she placed. It's a great way to celebrate learning."
