Bland Contest

Bland Contest

Defended

To the Editor:

As a Vice President of the Rappahannock Lions Club I have been assigned responsibility for chairing two of the standing committees, one for which I volunteered because I ;njoyed it, The Bland Committee, ind theother, because someone had x> do it, The Public Relations Committee. 1

I have re-read the two letters in the March 9 edition of The News written in response to the Feb. 23 editorial “Music and the Arts.” All three writers seem to be in agreements about the need for assigning a higher priority to developing creative talent and achieving excellence of individual expression in art and music in the public schools. '

At the Bland Concert on Feb. 20 at RCHS there were ten performers on the program, five vocalists and five instrumentalists. There was a modest-sized audience of friends, family and Lions and all four expert judges were present and prepared.

I was greatly relieved because only three days before, when our Bland Committee met to review the program prospects, we were seriously debating the cancellation of this annual event for 1994. At the late hour we had the names of three females vocalists and one male instrumentalist scheduled to participate but without signed registration forms. However, we didn’t want to disappoint even those four students or the volunteer judges or the families involved.

Actually, it was the registration of a 9-year old from Wakefield Country Day School who called me at home at night that persuaded us to go ahead. By the end of the next day, Friday, we had one more name from the public school and four more from WCDS, ten in all, providing a respectable program for the following Sunday.

The next Thursday I was surprised to see the editorial devoted to “Music and the Arts.” It was a little disappointing to realize that our Bland Contest was the event that seemed to trigger a release of frustration and could cause the comment. “It has not been many years since the county had many qualified participants in both categories from the public schools. It is sad to see this deterioration.”

Well, I wasn’t in the county then, but I heard tales about those “Golden Years.” Even before we moved to Castleton, nearly five years ago, we received glowing reports about the high standard and quality of musical comedy productions that provided fine opportunities to Rappahannock County talent.

The recent Bland Concert was the fourth in which I personally participated, serving as Chairman for the last three years. I believe it necessary to respond to some of Judy Hitt’s comments. She suggests that “until there are more positive attitudes from the Lions Club, judges, media, school and the public, you are not going to get the performers.” Since that comment covers all the groups involved it would seem that everyone could be doing better.

llie Lions Club has proven its positive attitude by contributing