Music Festivals

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vendors, performance art, and social activities. The Pythian Games at Delphi included musical performances, and may be one of the earliest festivals known. During the Middle Ages festivals were often held as competitions.

Many festivals are annual, or repeat at some other interval. Some, including many rock festivals, are held only once. Some festivals are organized as for-profit concerts and others are benefits for a specific cause.

Another type of music festival is the educative type, organized annually in local communities, regionally or nationally, for the benefit of amateur musicians of all ages and grades of achievement. While entrants perform prepared pieces in the presence of an audience which includes competitors, the essential feature of this type of festival is that each participant receives verbal and written feedback, there and then, from a highly qualified, professional adjudicator - someone who they might never meet in any other way. They also usually receive a certificate, classified according to merit, and some may win trophies. The competitive element is often played down, however, as the important aspect is that participants can learn from one another. Such festivals aim to provide a friendly and supportive platform for musicians to share in the excitement of making music. For many they provide a bridge between lessons & examinations and performing confidently in public.

A list of festivals in the United States.

1 Alternative festivals

2 Arts and crafts festivals

3 Beer festivals

4 Culture, heritage and folk festivals

5 Earth and nature festivals

A list of festivals in Ukraine:

1. The Ukrainian jazz festival

2. Rok Ekzystentsiya

3. The International Hutsul Festival

4. The Red Rue Festival

5. The KyivMusicFest, etc.

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"Music in Hospitals"

Some doctors believe that not prescribing music as part of medical treatment will soon be seen as malpractice.

Dr Staricoff – whose background is in immunological research and tropical diseases but now devotes herself to examining the impact of arts and health – is frustrated by the amount of energy required to get governments and health planners to take the impact of music on health seriously. Her study at Chelsea and Westminster showed a range of positive effects, including reduced levels of anxiety and depression in women who had given birth, after a programme of live music. Cortisol levels (including stress) in patients waiting for day surgery were 46 per cent lower in those who had been visited by musicians. The study even showed that timing of performances made a difference. 'Like medication, you have to use music at the right time, the right place and with the right people, otherwise it can be damaging,' she says. 'There is so much knowledge but people remain skeptical and think music in hospitals is not the way forward'. But Diana Greenman, director of the charity Music In Hospitals – established 55 years ago for ex-service personnel with physical and psychological problems – sees signs of changing attitudes in health settings. 'There's much more acceptance of music in hospital than there used to be from health staff', she says.

Surrey-based Music In Hospitals has just opened a new northern office in Manchester to cope with the increasing demand and has outposts in Wales and Scotland. The charity has also worked with researcher Susan Trythall from Exeter University, who is doing her PhD on the use of music in health settings. Meanwhile, more research has just started at the University of Canterbury on the use of singing with elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's. As science is mobilized to prove music's efficacy, Dr Jane Ratcliffe, an intensive care specialist from Alder Hey, is clear about why she has fought to have musicians making regular visits to the Merseyside wards. 'Medicine and clinical care can be high tech, but what makes the difference is the human aspect of feeding the soul, and that has a real impact on recovery.'

(from BBC Music)

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