Students ‘playing their hearts out’; Youth showcase coming soon to Playhouse, featuring several local musicians

In just a couple short weeks, local youth musicians will once again have the opportunity to show off their hard work for their loved ones and the community at the Brown County Youth Showcase. This year’s show happens on July 7 and will again take place at the Brown County Playhouse. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show begins at 7:30 p.m.

According to Kara Barnard, local musician, teacher and host of the show, the Youth Art Showcase has been going strong for more than 10 years.

The show is usually in the spring, but it was pushed to the summer of this year because of scheduling conflicts.

“Our spring was so busy this year that we just postponed it and decided to do it in July,” Barnard said last week.

Barnard said around 14 kids will be playing in this year’s show, featuring a variety of instruments and song selections. According to her, all the students enjoy challenging themselves with new approaches to their playing.

“One of my banjo players will be playing over a Led Zeppelin guitar solo,” Barnard said as an example. “So, we’ve got some really wild things going on this year. The kids, every one of them, are really pushing it to the limits. The truth that I’ve got this year, is that my students have all reached that place in time where I can really challenge them to really do a lot of interesting, weird things that aren’t traditionally done on their instruments, and they absolutely love it and everybody is stepping right in to where they need to be. It’s going to be a phenomenal year.”

All the kids involved in the show are Bernard’s students. According to her, she teaches around 45 private students every week, and about 30 group students.

“I probably see close to 100 people a week, which is unheard of,” Barnard said.

Even though she meets with such a large number of students, Barnard said she really wants more kids from around the community to become involved in future showcases, so the performances are made up of more than just her students. She hopes to include members of the local schools and those who practice with other private instructors.

To get her students involved in the showcase, Bernard said she simply asks them to perform. She sees the event as a valuable learning experience for the kids, as they get to work through and learn about each part of a live event — from following the strict timeline schedule of such an event, to practicing in the green room before taking the stage, to facing their fears and actually performing their piece up on stage in front of a live audience.

“If they’re signed up on my regular teaching schedule, I ask them to play,” Bernard said. “I’ve had a few that I just can’t seem to get on stage because of stage fright. Most of them, I can get over that, but I’ve got a couple that just refuse. But, pretty much if you’re a young student of mine, you’re going to be doing the Youth Showcase.”

Bernard added that the finale of the showcase will be a performance by all of her adult dulcimer students, which add up to just under 30 musicians, including Bernard.

“We pretty much fill the stage,” she said.

According to Bernard, the students begin working on their show tunes around 4 or 5 months prior to the showcase. They begin by ironing out the specific arrangements each student is interested in, then when they come in for their weekly lessons, they work on the piece as if they are playing in front of an audience.

“So I’m instructing on stage presence and how to look out in the audience, how to sing into a microphone,” she said.

The performers in the show range in age from around 8 all the way up to 19 years old. Bernard said a lot of her students start with her in grade school and stay with her for weekly instruction until they go off to college. One of the performers in the show, Mackenzie Crum, is actually in college currently, but still travels to do weekly lessons.

“She’s done it all her life, and I don’t think she’s ready to let go of it yet,” Bernard said.

Those interested in attending the show can expect to see a variety of instruments, including the dulcimer, mandolin, banjo, acoustic and electric guitars, keyboard and even trumpet.

According to Bernard, the kids who have done the show in the past really look forward to it.

“As soon as they step off the stage, they’re going to be thinking about what they want to do next year because they’re so excited about it,” she said. “And each year, they try to better themselves and do something even more spectacular, so that’s why the lineup is going to be really great this year.”

Bernard said each time a new student has gone up for the first time, they have quickly come to enjoy the feeling of playing for a live crowd.

“I am with most of them (on stage), so we have a conversation and we talk to the audience and I boost them up, and before you know it, they are just playing their hearts out,” she said.

Bernard said the showcase has always been a very positive event for the kids, where the community has the chance to come support their hard work, while also getting to enjoy a great show.

“I feel like every year that we do this, the whole community comes out and everybody just gets to have a blast,” she said. “Really just urging the kids to do their best — audience participation, clapping, ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing,’ just encouraging the kids to give us their best performance.”

Those interested in the showcase can purchase general admission tickets for $10. They can be found online at browncountyplayhouse.org or from calling the Playhouse box office at 812-988-6555.