Participants in this year’s Morden Festival of the Arts are getting some professional advice in advance of the 2008 competition.

A series of four adjudication workshops are being offered in conjunction with the Chautauqua Spirit celebration, the theme of Morden’s Cultural Capital of Canada program.

The first workshop was held this past weekend, and organizer Wes Hamm, says the strings adjudication workshop went very well.

“We were totally scheduled from 9-4 and had 20 students participate.”

All of the workshops are taking place in a master class format, which means the student receives one-on-one adjudication while three other students observe.

“It’s really very helpful for the students to have the chance to hear other performances and instruction,” he notes. “Response from the parents and students was positive.”

Strings workshop adjudicator Joanne Martin will also be back in March during the Festival of the Art strings session as will the piano and vocal adjudicators.

The piano adjudication workshop with Jane Duerksen will take place February 22 and Hamm says there is still space available.

In order to participate in the workshops, students must be registered to take part in the Festival of the Arts later in the spring.

Hamm says the students pieces are not in a polished state at the time of the workshop and with the help of experienced teachers, are given suggestions to make the most of their preparation time.

The vocal workshop will be presented March 15 with David Klassen and the English speech arts with Durwin Buchy in cooperation with local language arts teachers.

Registrations forms can be obtained on the Festival web site www.mordenfestivalofthearts.cfsites.org. You can also request forms by Email.