The musical discipline of guitar was a part of the Southeastern Manitoba Festival (SEMF) for the second year in a row.

Adjudicator Skender Sefa has been playing classical guitar for about 30 years and says he has a passion for the instrument because of the nuances, shading, dynamic aspects, and colours of the music. Sefa notes talent is about 10,000 hours of hard work in practice and it takes practice and time to become proficient at any skill.

"Formal lessons is the first must. As soon as I took lessons, that was a really important thing for my development as a musician. Being focused, very focused is another thing. I think the most successful students are the ones who are very goal-oriented. Also, takes a lot of practice."

Sefa says the better an individual does at a particular skill the more they will enjoy it and continue excelling at increasingly higher levels. He adds part of that is helping to make the festival a positive experience for each participant.

"Hopefully they have a really positive experience at the festival and it's very rewarding. [Hopefully] they go home and practice and come back and register again the next year. I think the most important thing is it needs to be a very positive experience for the students and we really have that in mind when we're adjudicating."

He notes the classical guitar is a relatively new instrument in the professional world, compared to piano or violin, adding it's a very important instrument. Sefa says this was his first time in Steinbach and hopes to come back for the festival in the future.