Page 45 - Flathead Beacon // 8.20.14

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
AUGUST 20, 2014 | 45
With 89 workshop attendees last year, the festival may not have much room to grow in size, but it is expanding in scope and influence. Two new schol- arships from the National Museum of Jazz in Harlem and a scholarship for the winner of the Guitar Foundation of America International Youth Competi- tion will attract talent from around the country. These will be complemented by a number of scholarships for Montana students, teachers and performers. The scholarship recipients vary in their ex- pertise, but are all unwavering in their love for the instrument.
Emily Elbert, who received the Chairman’s Scholarship last year and is returning this year as a guest performer, is excited to return.
“There’s something truly special about playing in such a majestic natu- ral environment,” she said. “It inspires the live music experience and energy ex- change in a really powerful way.”
Simone Craft, 18, and Annika Gor- don, 16, from Whitefish, and Shayla Smith, 24, from Kalispell, received Crown Scholarships this year.
Gordon only took up the guitar two years ago, but she loves the instrument’s range of expression.
The “... dripping, oozing richness and haunting sound of the acoustic can make you cry, fall asleep, or smile, while the pure power and strength of the growling electric makes you want to smash things and dance around,” she said.
Both Craft and Smith are working on albums and are excited to hone their
Sonny Emory COURTESY CROWN OF THE CONTINENT GUITAR FESTIVAL skills in Bigfork.
“I am looking forward to the great musicians making their way to the Crown,” Craft said.
Smith said she focuses on the festi- val’s impact on her own playing.
“I expect to be involved in music professionally for the rest of my life, so I want to continually improve and be the best I can be. The workshop will be a valuable experience. Not only will it help me improve on guitar, but I believe it will help me become more confident in my playing,” Smith said.
The festival itself combines teach- ing, informal jamming and concerts that are open to the public. Teachers, participants and their families all stay
at the Flathead Lake Lodge, where they have access to swimming, boating, horse riding and a panoply of other Flathead activities. Participants love the oppor- tunity to live and interact informally with the world-class faculty, and many of them spend all day jamming, practic- ing and going to classes. But for family members and players who need a break, the festival is offering watercolor and Italian cooking classes this year.
The foundation also worked with The Nature Conservancy to produce a movie displaying the beauty of the Crown of the Continent region. The breathtaking landscapes are accompanied by original music from scholarship-winning Andre Floyd, and the video will have its pre-
miere at this year’s festival.
“This level of intimacy and commu-
nity is unique. We wanted it to be inclu- sive; artists don’t get much time with their families and they’ve loved it,” Fef- fer said.
If an artist really wants to be a great musician, they have to be exposed to different types of music and be familiar with Beethoven and Mozart, no matter what genre they play, Feffer said. Expos- ing the musicians to each other and their disparate styles is one of the greatest op- portunities of the festival, and Feffer said teachers as well as students pick up tech- niques and sounds from the classical, jazz and rock musicians around them.
He also thinks that the beauty of Flathead Valley combined with the fa- milial atmosphere allows the artists to perform beyond themselves.
“They’re not doing a show when they perform here; it’s more. They say they’re playing at a different level than any- where else,” he said.
As the festival begins to sell out this year’s concerts, Feffer is focused on the future.
“We want to make music a much big- ger part of young people’s lives in the valley. That’s our next goal,” he said. “To get them involved, give people the op- portunity to grow up with guitar.”
For more information about the Crown of the Continent Guitar Work- shop and Festival and to purchase tick- ets, visit cocguitarfoundation.org or call 855-855-5900.
[email protected]
In the Hutton Ranch Plaza
Lunch 11am-4pm • Dinner 4pm-close 130 Hutton Ranch Rd., Kalispell 406-755-0757
We now accept Canadian Debit