![]() In most cases keeping a child interested in an instrument can be a struggle. PHOTO: Clarkston piano player Margaret Aviya Whitelaw recently won a major award on an international level.It isn’t rare for parents to make their child take piano lessons when they’re young, and it also isn’t out-of-this-world for a kid to ask their parents if they can take lessons. She is a beginning orchestra student and plays violin. ![]() Locally, Whitelaw attends Oakland Homeschool Music in Waterford. Stavreva is always willing to work with Whitelaw’s goals, and always has great ideas to help her continue to improve. Whitelaw takes part in online classes with Stavreva, as she is based in Toronto. ![]() Petya (Stavreva) has some cool plans and ideas for me all the time.” I want to do anything to help me get better at it and make progress every day. “I want to keep learning more techniques. “I want to keep learning more new songs,” she said. Moving forward, keeping the piano in her life is a priority for Whitelaw. And then we got a Yamaha upright piano every year I joined competitions.” I got first place and third place at the Kiwanis Music Festival. And then I joined my first piano competition at the age of five. So I started learning that and then I got a keyboard. “It’s a class where you learn notes and rhythm. “My parents decided to enroll me in Music for Young Children, and it’s a great program,” said Whitelaw. Going back a few years, Whitelaw said she started on the piano when she was gifted a tiny toy version and pretended to play songs and sing. I’m really thankful that I was able to, and that music is a thing.” If there was no music, I would never have had the opportunity to go to the Music Lights the Way Piano Festival and play on that grand piano in Koerner Hall. If there was no music, I wouldn’t have learned to play musical instruments. I don’t know how I can go through a day without music. I am usually the vocalist, and my brothers are my backup singers. We like to record worship songs together as a family. Now that I play piano, I practice piano every day and play my violin. “Since I was little, I liked to sing,” said Whitelaw. Whitelaw noted how music has been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. ![]() The winners all gave an encore performance and were awarded their prizes. The finalists from levels 5-10 were flown out to Toronto to perform their piece live at the RCM’s Koerner Hall and the winners for each category announced during the grand finale on March 22. 2022, pianists across Canada and the United States submitted videos of their piece from the RCM’s Celebration Series®, Sixth Edition Repertoire book and the finalists were chosen from their video submissions. “It’s going to be nice to have a new piano. “When I was sitting at the stage and waiting for my name to be called when the second place was called, I was very shocked and happy. I got to meet other finalists, too, and we became friends. I loved practicing in the practice rooms at the RCM. I really enjoyed myself there during the event. And to get to play on that grand piano to perform at Koerner Hall, it’s very special. “Even just the opportunity of getting to be there at the Royal Conservatory (in Toronto) was a great experience. “It means a lot to me, and it’s very special,” Whitelaw said. Whitelaw took home the top prize of Level 5 of the Youth Division, awarded a Yamaha b1 Acoustic upright piano, a prize worth over $6,500. The winners were chosen out of over 8,000 submissions across North America. Last month, Whitelaw was one of the winners of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s first-ever Music Lights the Way Piano Festival, a North American festival March 21-22 with over $150,000 in prizes given to winners, provided by Yamaha. Margaret Aviya Whitelaw is only nine years old, but the Clarkston resident plays the piano at a level far above her age.
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