Grade 1 student's song about hamster wins contest

"I have a hamster, her fur is white and brown," sings six-year-old Kaelin George-Wegner as she plays the tune on her piano at her Cole Harbour home last week.

The Grade 1 RK Turner Elementary student's piano composition, titled "My Little Hamster," won first place in her age group in the annual Music For Young Children International Composition Festival.

There were more than 12,000 entries from all over the world, with close to 2,300 entries in her category.

And a talent for writing music obviously runs in the George-Wegner family.

Two years ago, her brother Kurtis, then 9, also won in his age category for his musical composition March of the Mammoths.

"We were overwhelmed," said Kaelin's mother Linda George-Wegner. "It was very special, especially with her brother winning just two years ago."

Kaelin began lessons with Music For Young Children only last September at the Andrew Piano Studio in Cole Harbour where she is taught by Kathy Andrew.

Andrew said the contest is a way for the children to express their own ideas and also teaches them how to properly write the music.

"Children are encouraged to write stories and write down their own ideas, and read what others have written, and this is sort of the same idea," said Andrew. "It's good for the students to create their own musical ideas and learn to write them down, and learn the methods of doing that."

Kaelin said she likes all aspects of her music class, including the puppets and the singing, but her favourite part is getting a prize from the treasure chest.

When Kaelin first heard about the competition in February, she sat down with her mother to discuss some ideas about what she could write about.

Kaelin decided she'd write about her new hamster, Cindy, which she got for her birthday.

"I looked at Cindy and saw that she was fluffy. I saw that she was white and brown and she likes to run in her ball," said Kaelin.

"That's how she came up with the words for the song," said Linda. "All the ideas were hers."

Andrew said she tries to make composition writing a really fun thing for her students to do.

"I encouraged them to have words with their songs and pick a topic they're interested in ... that way they can relate to their song and have fun singing it."

Although their mother hopes music will always play an important part in their lives, both Kaelin and her brother say they want to be paleontologists when they grow up.

"I want to be on the same (paleontologist) team as my brother," said Kaelin.

Kaelin also likes anything to do with Star Wars, playing Wii and dancing.

lmckay@hfxnews.ca