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Two Seventh Grade students of Teresia Queen’s Advance studio have won N.C. Federation of Music Clubs state titles and awards.

Mallory Andrews won the National Music Week Essay Contest for the state.  Mallory’s submission was chosen from among 78 entries. She also won a cash award. Her winning entry was featured in the national publication of NFMC, “Junior Keynotes.”

Below is a reprint of Mallory’s winning entry:

Music – My

Worldwide Adventure! 

By Mallory Andrews

“I was in the car, on my way to my favorite place in all the world – the BEACH!  I turned on the radio to hear some beach music and was surprised to hear a Christmas song playing.  It was the middle of summer!  All of a sudden, I was in the middle of snow and lights.  I could immediately picture our family Christmas tree and all of the decorations – even the small Christmas tree in my own room.  Wait – it was summer, not the time for Christmas, but for a brief moment I was whisked away to that happy time of year.

I turned the station and then heard country music playing.  My mind jumped forward to a farm in the middle of nowhere.  There were cowboys and animals, fences and a farmhouse.  While this music seemed out of place for a trip to the beach, just from hearing it, I could picture all the things that my mind imagined in a country music setting.

So, I just kept changing the channel to find some beach travel music.  Along the way, I heard music from all different kinds of places.  I heard a bit of a Beethoven classical piece – which of course made me pause and think of Germany for a moment.  The next station had a Mariachi band playing and made me think of Mexico.  I also found a ukulele being played and I thought for a moment about a luau on one of the Hawaiian Islands somewhere.

I realized I would just need to keep changing the station to find the music I had started searching for as I traveled on a worldwide adventure to get there.  Before I knew it, I had traveled all over the world in search of the music for a beach travel day, but it was fun.  As I sat back and just listened for the rest of the trip, it made me realize that even a car radio can take you anyplace with music!

That is how I went on my worldwide adventure in music, never even leaving my car as we were just on our way to the beach, one day back in the summer.”

Mallory is 13 and in seventh grade at Ellis Middle School.  She is a member of the Beta Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and band, where she plays the clarinet.  She has many interests and hobbies, including tennis and dance. She has been dancing at In Motion Dance Studio since she was 3 and where she is a member of the Dance Elite Competition Team.

Mallory is also actively involved with the youth program at Hillsdale United Methodist Church, where she is a member. She has been playing piano since 2017, starting in the second grade.

This is her sixth year taking piano from Queen.  Her music awards include NFMC Gold Cups in piano duet, hymn playing, American patriotic/folk songs, musicianship/theory and piano solo.  In fourth grade, Mallory placed in the top 5 entries for the national NFMC Angie Greer Music in Poetry Contest.

She is the daughter of Adam and Allison Andrews.

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Also a 2023 NCFMC state winner is Giulianna Steuart, daughter of Michael and Kristen Steuart.  She won the state title and a cash award for her original composition in the Class II Junior Composer’s contest for NC.

Giulianna is a homeschooled seventh grader.  She has been a member of NFMC for the past six years and has competed each year in piano solo, hymn planning, American Patriotic/Folk Songs, and Piano Duet – (with her duet partner of the last six years being Mallory Andrews, listed above.) Giulianna added the piano concerto to her competition events this year and has also competed several years in the musicianship/theory event.

In all events Giulianna has earned a Superior rating each year.

Besides piano, she loves volleyball, reading, drawing and is writing her first novel.  She is a member of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem.  Giulianna has also earned the annual music award presented each year by the Music Studio of Teresia Queen – “Personal Best Memory” for the past five consecutive years.

Although Giulianna has been writing and composing music for a few years now, this is the first year she has entered the NFMC Junior Composer’s Contest.

“I entered the composer’s contest because I love composing my own songs. After I had written my competition piece and played it through for the first time, I imagined a time when I was younger and took a night walk through the snow with my family.  That’s how the title ‘Snowy Night’ came to be.  I was nervous to enter this contest for the first time, but I’m so glad I did.  The experience has been very rewarding.”

Giulianna scored a Superior + for her first entry with the judge’s comments including: “Giulianna, I found myself mesmerized by your ABA composition form with coda for Snowy Night.  I could picture myself at the window, looking out at the snow and maybe feeling a bit lonely.  Then my friends came to the door and we went out to play. The key of G Minor with a short tonicization to the key of C Major at ‘sparkling’ is a delightful choice to convey your mood.  The amount of creativity you poured into just a few measures was as full as an entire concerto.  Your notation is beautifully done by hand, Bravissimo,  Giulianna, I think you have a future in film score writing if you wish.  Please keep playing and writing music.”

The NCFMC is the state organization belonging to the National Federation of Music Clubs, an organization of musicians and music lovers.The NFMC celebrated its 125th anniversary this year with its annual sponsorship of National Music Week in May.  This was the 101st year of the observance. The week was filled with music programs presented across the nation, radio and television shows, a national Music Week Essay contest and a national Music in Poetry Contest.  Opportunities were provided for organized musical forces throughout the U.S., as well as religious, educational and civic groups to join music lovers in emphasizing the joy and pleasure to be gained from making music.

“This year’s National Music Week theme was ‘Music…A Worldwide Adventure’ and was chosen by NFMC as an encouragement to all to explore the far-reaching effects of music in our lives and to discover the added dimension it can bring to the world today,” Queen said.