The perfect window of opportunity for kids to start music lessons is between the ages of 3 and 10. I’m not sure if the neuroscience research holds up for composing songs during this age too, but there is definitely some anecdotal evidence of it – elementary school students Menea Vladi Kefalov and Ande Celeste Siegel of Reed Elementary School in Ladue recently won first place in the elementary song with words division of the COMP (Creating Original Music Project) contest put on by the University of Missouri-Columbia for their piece titled "War." 

You can hear the repeat winners’ performance on "Show Me St. Louis" here.

The COMP contest – which SmartParenting’s Sharon Linde posted about last November – had several local winners among older students as well. They included:

• Anthony Delia of Holy Infant School in Ballwin, who won first place in the middle school popular music division for “Words.”
• Lileana Ibur of Wydown Middle School in Clayton, who received second place in the middle school popular music division for “Nothing Boy.” You can see this repeat winner perform on FOX2 news here. 
• Gus Knobbe of Webster Groves High School, who took first place in the fine arts category for “Madness.”
• Benedetto Colagiovanni of Clayton High School, who took first place in the high school jazz division for “Waltz For Bill.” He is also a repeat winner.

The 22 statewide winners for 2012 performed their works live in Columbia last month and received cash prizes for themselves and their schools. If your musically inclined student didn’t make the final cut this year, no worries – the eighth edition of the annual contest will be accepting entries in the fall.

By Amy De La Hunt, Health Blogger for SmartParenting