In 1991, during the 25th anniversary celebrations for the St. John's Folk Arts Council the board decided, as part of the celebrations, that recognition should be given to young folk performers. On May 9 of that year, a concert was produced at the LSPU Hall. It was a rousing success with stellar performances from such "youth" as Chris Andrews, Christopher Anstey, Danette Eddy, Patrick Moran, Jenny Press, John Roe, Jason Whelan and others. Many of these young performers have gone on to develop their musical talents and continue to employ them in various ways within the music world.

For the last few years, I've noted that the Neil Murray stage at the folk festival (as well as the main stage) has attracted some fine young singers and musicians. It seemed to me that this was the only time during the year that these young musicians had an opportunity to intermingle. I felt that it would be beneficial to these young folk-enthusiasts, and to the general folk music community, if they were presented with an opportunity to further interact and explore their musical talents.

I attend many of the "traditional sessions" around town. I enjoy the informality of the gatherings where no pressure is placed on any individuals within the session; music is played, people socialize, and even more important, we all learn from each other in a very casual manner. With this concept in mind, I felt that young musicians could benefit from a similar experience. Unfortunately, due to the constrictions and conceptions of local pubs and bars, young people have not, as a rule, attended these sessions.

With this in mind, I proposed to the Folk Arts Council that we revisit the idea of a youth concert at the LSPU Hall. As we all know now, the council supported the proposal and further suggested that we conduct some workshops for these young musicians leading up to the actual concert. This turned out to be a marvelous idea as it furthered my initial thought of giving ownership of the music to the young people and taking away the stress- factor of performing music.

Jean Hewson was the SJFAC board representative who volunteered to organize the event with me. We contacted as many young people as we could think of that might be interested. The response was promising and we ended up with 21 enthusiastic young folk ranging from age seven to seventeen. We had no problem recruiting established members of the folk music scene to help facilitate the workshops; all of them were only too anxious to lend a hand. The workshops took place at Holy Cross Elementary School. Under Jean's expert direction we soon had ourselves five folk bands. The young people worked diligently for two Saturday afternoons and, without any qualms, put off a wonderful concert of folk music at the LSPU Hall on February 24.

Those attending the concert were treated to a display of confident young folk playing music for the sheer joy of it. But had the audience had a chance to witness the process leading up to the concert, I believe they would have been equally impressed. My joy was in seeing these young folk, many of whom had never met before, working together to come up with new material, arrangements, and even band names during the two afternoons of the workshops. Many of them have expressed interest in attending more workshops and some of them are showing up at the informal sessions that are being designed now to accommodate these young people. It's only fitting to include in this article some of the many comments passed on to me from both parents and young people alike. My heartiest congratulations to all those involved, including participants, facilitators, volunteers and parents. Let's hope we don't wait another ten years for the next Young Folk at the Hall!!

Parent and Participant Comments:

"I think it was an excellent event and would love to see it happen again. It gave the youth an opportunity to not only perform together, but to see others in their age group performing the same type of music. Until Allan started going to sessions he really didn't know anyone else in his age group that performed this type of music, which meant that he was limited when it came to learning different songs and performing in a group. Since the concert, Allan has made new friends that have the same music interests and he looks forward to getting together with them to play a few tunes in the future." - Tina Ricketts (parent)

"I feel the workshop was a wonderful experience for Julia...she actually composed her first song - lyrics and music - in the wake of it all! Having a chance to spend time in such fine and creative company seems to have given her a whole new appreciation of her own musical opportunities." - Kathleen Parewick (parent)

"The main thing is that I like to play music with other kids, and I like to play jigs and reels. I like to play traditional music because it is fun music that gets in your head and makes you dance. I don't usually get to play with other people, so I liked this opportunity to play in a group. I thought it was fun that there were many different instruments in the workshops. I like the idea of having smaller groups, not the whole gang of people together all the time. I also thought it was nice because we got to learn some new songs and tunes. I thought the concert was a good final result. I hope that we will be able to do this again. Please let me know if you hold another workshop. Thank you!" - Charlotte-Anne Malischewski, 10 years old (participant)

"To me, as a young musician, I felt that the get-together of Young Folk at the Hall was a learning experience as well as a good bit of fun. It was an all around great idea. Such get-togethers help people get used to performing and arranging sets and songs. For people who are usually stage-shy or shy in general, it gave them an opportunity for them to bypass that fear and make use of their talents, socialize, and have a great time. If such an organized ice-breaker or get-together was arranged again, I'd be there in an instant because I had a great time and I'm sure everyone else did too. Thanks!" - Chris Coleman, 16 years old (participant)

"I enjoyed every bit of it and would love to do it again." - Allan Ricketts, 14 years old (participant)


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Click these links for additional photos of the Workshops, Concert, and Bands.