School music competition

Kids want to impress with Carb sounds

Finkenstein is home to Austria's only school steel drum band(Bild: Mittelschule Finkenstein)

In order to promote musical talent as early as possible, the Falco Private Foundation has launched a talent competition for schools. The Finkenstein secondary school is taking part with a Caribbean sound.

The talent competition is taking place for the first time this year. So far, more than 500 projects have been submitted and the page has been clicked on over seven million times. "The school competition is aimed at elementary school, secondary schools and grammar schools and the first five winners can look forward to receiving prize money," explains Sandro Petutschnig, educational advisor at Finkenstein secondary school. 

These are steel drums

Steeldrums/Steelpan originate from Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean) and have a unique sound. There are already some well-known bands in Great Britain, Switzerland and France. They are made from oil drums. Like in a choir, there are different voices: Soprano, tenor, alto, bass.

Petutschnig, who moved from Vorarlberg to Carinthia this year and has been teaching at the MS since then, has also brought several steel drums with him. Back in Vorarlberg, he was the founder of a school steel band and took part in the music competition with the children, and with his passion for Caribbean sounds, the dedicated teacher has also inspired the pupils in Finkenstein and founded a steel band. "I currently teach seven pupils from the second and fourth grades and so far we have built up a repertoire of five pieces, all of which are played from memory," says Petutschnig. The band has the melodious name "Pan Fusion" and is currently the only school steel band in Austria. 

The school choir at Finkenstein secondary school(Bild: Mittelschule Finkenstein)

In February 2024, the teacher also founded a school choir. Twelve pupils from first to third grade currently take part in it. "In April, we produced the music video that we submitted to the music competition entirely in-house," says Petutschnig. During filming, we even used the popular janitor's lawnmower tractor. 

Voting for the video is open until Sunday, May 26. After that, a jury will also evaluate the submissions. In any case, the Finkenstein pupils already know exactly what they would do with any prize money. "We would continue the work on our music room. The children and young people have already been busy spackling, painting and crafting as part of their own project," says Petutschnig.

 You can vote for the video here. Simply click on the heart below the video.