Teresa Sophia Schneider, Vorarlberg Regional Center for the Hearing Impaired, Dornbirn, Austria
The festival is an initiative that gathers people of all ages, amateurs and professional musicians, from various countries with different types of auditory implants in one place and time to participate in a music competition, which ends with a gala concert of laureates. The event is supported by a number of foundations, institutions and CI companies.
The festival and accompanying events – the Music in Human Auditory Development Conference – were initiated and are continued by Professor Henryk Skarzynski, the head of the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Warsaw, Poland.
The onsite participants are pre-selected based on their internet musical submissions. This year, over 100 submissions were made from all over the world. In the beginning, the atmosphere seemed competitive, but this quickly changed. Utlimately the event connects auditory implant users: they make new friends, share their experiences with different devices, and join their musical initiatives. The language is not a barrier for them.
During the auditions, contestants present their musical performances to the jury of famous Polish musicians, actors, opera singers, pop singers, journalists, academic teachers, orchestra conductors, speech therapists and radio and TV officials. Six laureates were selected at the auditions.
The day before the concert, on July 11, the 10th Jubilee Scientific & Training Conference ‘Art in Therapy, Medicine and Science’ in the series ‘Music in Human Auditory Development’ took place in the World Hearing Center in Kajetany. Specialists in otology, audiology, and hearing therapy from around the world gave lectures on the topic. I had the honor of giving theoretical background knowledge on the topic of music and its influence on hearing and speech development in CI users, as well as giving a report on experiences using musical exercises in hearing and speech therapy. Furthermore, exciting study results were presented, and scientific findings were discussed.
Music workshops for CI users and conference participants were held in the afternoon. We sang, danced, played with various instruments and explored the world of sounds. Young and old participants had fun making music together.
During the festival, we also had the opportunity to get to know the culture of Poland. During a guided tour, we enjoyed typical polish food and learned some interesting details about the city's history.
On Friday evening, the gala concert finally took place on the stage of the Polish Radio's concert studio. The six laureates were able to perform their pieces of music, accompanied by the pianist and the Polish Radio Orchestra. The pre-selected participants arrived in Poland from Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Georgia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Romania, and Serbia.
The concert was a splendid musical feast created by the participants, guests, jury, the Polish Radio Orchestra, its conductor Michal Klauza, Filip Sojka Band, and the hosts Maciej Miecznikowski and Agata Konarska. Participants performed well-known classical musical pieces and folk songs.
The festival is a unique initiative showing that music is a thread connecting all people. As participants of the festival say, music is their life, their passion, and their joy. Their accomplishments are extraordinary proof that science and medicine significantly impact our lives.
