AFYM 2023 IS HERE!
We were very pleased to have been able to hold a festival in 2022, and although, by necessity, it had to take a different format to our earlier festivals, we were delighted to see you all face to face and online. In 2023, the timing of the AFYM in early February means that we may yet again have to be mindful of the state of Covid in the community. At the time of writing, it is impossible to know what the situation will be in the winter. It is with this in mind that some of the classes remain online, this applies particularly to our ensemble classes, where we often find that we have large numbers of people in the venue.
However, the pandemic, and our experience of AFYM 2022, made us realise that there are advantages to holding some classes online, and this may be something we continue. The online facility offers senior students the chance to avoid missing school time and avoids long distance travel for some participants. This next generation will also find that ‘online’ will feature significantly in their student and working lives and they will need good video and online presentation skills. We are also able to involve adjudicators online who may not be able to travel to Swansea.
We are pleased to be able to announce some new and exciting online classes for 2023, notably classes T1N Rock and Pop solos or bands, and T2N Sound and Video. We hope that these will get you all thinking and hope for some really creative and exciting videos.
Also note that, after the success last year, the Own Composition and Pam Wedgwood Interpretation classes are back. We look forward to some interesting and moving compositions and some characterful interpretations again. The Pam Wedgwood Interpretation piece will be available online earlier this year and will be a little easier than last year’s piece, thus opening up this fascinating class to more performers.
Please read the class descriptions carefully, you will find that in some junior classes performers are asked to play two pieces. This is to give younger players a chance to perform more pieces but also to encourage them to keep playing older pieces, thus building up a repertoire.
A highly experienced lineup of adjudicators in 2023 includes Edward Leung and Robin Ashwell in person in Swansea, and our AFYM President Pam Wedgwood in the online festival. Do visit the website to see the full details.
We hope you will find lots to enjoy, encourage and challenge you! We look forward to seeing you and hearing you play in AFYM 2023 >>>
