Montclair Early Music, a non-profit organization focusing on raising awareness and appreciation of medieval and Renaissance music, announced the winners of third Annual Recorder Challenge.
Three out of the five winners are fourth graders from Montclair.
The winners are: David Aguilar, Kimaya Sayles and Avi Webber from Montclair; and Jacob Viruet and Naeli Hernandez from Belleville.
The children were given lessons via Zoom at first, and later were taught outdoors.
“These children are amazing. It has been a pleasure to teach them,” Julienne Pape, the president of Montclair Early Music, said in an announcement from the group. She provided the lessons.
The winners played and memorized folk songs and were accompanied by the Montclair Early Music Consort in its outdoor concert, “Don Quixote & Music of his Times” on Aug. 19 at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield.
“We believe music can have an enormous impact on learning and self confidence in all areas of life, and recorder music has a rich history and extensive repertoire,” Pape said. “In particular, the recorder, while simple to play, is much more than the ‘Hot Cross Buns’ most of us learned in primary school. We hope our support of area schools and their students will add to their success in the future as well as enhance the appreciation of recorder music.”
At the start of the program, last year’s winner, Lindsay Chabla from Belleville, played a solo of “Quem Omagen,” a 12thth century Spanish piece written for King Alfonso X.
The event was recorded and will be broadcast on TV-34. For more information, visit MontclairEarlyMusic.org