REPORT: SUMMER MUSIC CAMPS

For serious music students, June may mark the beginning of summer vacation, but it does not mean their musical education takes a break. Throughout the summer, a variety of camps for marching band, jazz band, chamber ensembles, strings and orchestra, and drum line and auxiliary are conducted. Many of the camps offer ensemble settings as well as individualized instruction, and some also include recreational electives and other activities.

In this Report, School Band and Orchestra presents an alphabetical sampling of some of the numerous music camps in session this summer. For additional information about each camp, visit the Web site listed with each one.

Jamey Aebersold’s Summer Jazz Workshops
California, Kentucky, Washington
www.jajazz.com/workshops/
This workshop series teaches jazz improvisation in the styles of artists like Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and more. The week-long workshops offer hands-on instruction in jazz improvisation in a small group setting. Workshops, including two-day “Anyone Can Improvise” seminars conducted by Jamey Aebersold, are being held at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, Pleasant Hill, Calif., and Seattle, Wash.

Bands of America Summer Symposium
Illinois State University, Normal, Ill.
www.bands.org
The Bands of America Summer Band Symposium is the flagship event for Bands of America, the nation’s leading presenter of music events for high school band students. Each summer, more than 1,300 students and teachers from over 30 states gather at Illinois State University in Normal, Ill., for the national premiere Summer Band Symposium.

Student Divisions include concert band, jazz band, the World Percussion Symposium, marching band, color guard, drum majors, and a leadership workshop.

Blairfest at Vanderbilt
Nashville, Tenn.
www.vanderbilt.edu/blair
Blairfest at Vanderbilt is a three-day festival for winds and percussion students featuring the Blair School of Music Faculty in Nashville, Tenn. Special workshop sessions are offered in breathing, intonation, phrasing, making double reeds, effective practice techniques and T’ai Chi for musicians. Master classes in each instrument, chamber music experiences and private lessons are available. The camp features performances by the faculty woodwind and brass quintets.

Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp
Twin Lake, Mich.
www.bluelake.org
The Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp offers ensemble-based programs in band, jazz ensemble, and orchestra, for students of all proficiencies. The daily schedule includes large ensemble rehearsals, sectionals, technique classes, improvisation, and a listening course. Students also have the opportunity to attend performances by faculty members and other outstanding musicians.

The Britt Institute
Jacksonville, Ore.
www.brittfest.org
The Britt Institute offers camps for students interested in jazz, chamber winds and chamber strings. Theses camps are open to high school-age students (see Web site for details), by audition. The Chamber Winds ensemble receives instruction from artists-in-residence Prairie Winds, and the Chamber Strings ensemble works under the guidance of the Pacifica Quartet. The week-long camps feature rehearsals, coaching, master classes and performances.

Camp Encore/Coda
Sweden, Maine
www.encore-coda.com
Camp Encore/Coda’s music program includes classical, jazz, pop, rock and roll, and music from American Theater. Each camper has one-and-a-half hours of private lesson time each week, on either one or two instruments, and may participate in various ensembles and classes. Large ensembles include orchestras, wind ensembles, jazz bands, and vocal groups. Small ensembles include chamber music, jazz combos, and rock bands. Campers perform in and attend many concerts. Music classes include theory, ear training, history, literature, conducting, arranging and composition.

Community Music & Dance Academy
UMKC Conservatory of Music, Kansas City, Mo.
www.umkc.edu/conservatory/cmda
The Community Music & Dance Academy offers various summer programs for student musicians, including its Cloyd Duff Timpani Master Class, Harp and Flute Camp, and the Heartland Chamber Music Academy.

Eastman School of Music Summer Studies
University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.
www.rochester.edu/eastman/summer
Among its summer offerings, the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, N.Y., features programs in Music Horizons and Jazz Studies, as well as a Jazz Composers Weekend and a Music Technology Weekend. The Music Horizons program is for students who are considering a career in music.

Florida A&M Marching 100
Summer Band Camp, Tallahassee, Fla.
www.famumusic.com/marching/html/bandcamp.aspx
The Florida A&M University Marching 100 Band Camp offers middle and high school students the opportunity to improve their music proficiency, enhance their marching concepts and creativity, develop their leadership skills, participate in one of three concert and jazz bands, play in small chamber groups as well as perform solos/ensembles. Performance highlights include: parade; instrumental solo/ensemble concert; symphonic and jazz bands concert; marching band extravaganza.

Interlochen Arts Camp
Interlochen, Mich.
www.interlochen.org/Camp/index.htm
At Interlochen Arts Camp, which runs in two four-week sessions beginning in June and July, the music program includes nearly two dozen performing ensembles supplemented by a wide variety of music classes designed for every level of skill. High school students audition for initial placement in the ensembles and have the opportunity to advance through weekly challenges. The World Youth Symphony Orchestra is Interlochen’s premier ensemble, offering weekly performances with a variety of distinguished conductors and virtuoso guest artists. Musicians live and study with dancers, actors, visual artists and creative writers.

The KoSA International Percussion Workshop
Montreal, QC Canada
www.kosamusic.com
This year’s workshop will be held at Castleton State College, in Castleton, Vt., August 4-10, 2003. This drums and percussion camp features a week with an internationally acclaimed faculty in a hands-on, intense and intimate setting. Performing classes for all levels are offered in: drum set, Afro-Caribbean music, Cuban drumming, Brazilian drumming, African drumming and dance, marimba, timpani, snare drum, frame drumming, concert percussion, Australian didgeridou, Japanese Taiko drumming, percussion ensemble, rhythm section labs, studio recording classes, special educators track, percussion technology (sequencing, hard disk recording, music software) and pop and commercial music.

Loyola Jazz Band Camp
Loyola University, New Orleans, La.
www.loyno.edu/summer/jazzbandcamp.aspx
The Loyola College of Music offers its Loyola Jazz Band Camp June 10-16. The camp is open to seventh through 12th graders, intermediate and advanced musicians. Participation is limited to students who play trumpet, trombone, piano, bass, guitar, drums or saxophone. To achieve balanced instrumentation, the number of players on each instrument will be limited.

Mason-Dixon Jazz Camp
Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Penn.
www.gettysburg.edu
Gettysburg College will host the Mason-Dixon Jazz Camp June 16-20. Sixty students in grades nine through 12 and band directors interested in learning about jazz or improving their leadership skills may participate in jazz combos, big bands, learn about jazz history and theory and develop improvisation technique. Denis DiBlasio and George Rabbai are the head clinicians, and Dr. Buzz Jones, chair of the Gettysburg College Music Department, is director of the jazz camp. For more information, contact Dr. Jones at [email protected].

Midwestern Music Camp
University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kans.
www.ku.edu/~sfa/mad/summer.aspx
Midwestern Music Camp is a comprehensive music camp with full symphony orchestras, choirs, bands, jazz ensembles, piano performance and chamber groups, plus classes in music appreciation, music theory, MIDI and conducting. Founded in 1936, Midwestern Music Camp annually hosts outstanding students and world-class clinicians from over 30 states and several countries. Students come with all levels of ability. Sessions offered are the KU Jazz Workshop and the KU Guard and Drum Major Camps.

Fred J. Miller Inc. Summer Clinic Program
Centerville, Ohio
www.fjminc.com
Fred J. Miller is a family-owned business that offers a Summer Clinic Program throughout 15 different states. Auxiliary units have been attending FJM Clinics for over 40 years. The company has developed a curriculum that will benefit each school that attends.

Point CounterPoint Chamber Music Camp
Lake Dunmore, Vt.
www.pointcp.com
Point CounterPoint introduces young piano and string (ages 11 to 17) musicians to chamber music. The camp offers three- and four-week sessions, private lessons, ensemble coaching, student performances and a full-time resident music faculty, with an almost 2:1 camper-staff ratio.

Sewanee Summer Music Center
Sewanee, Tenn.
www.sewanee.edu/ssmf
The Sewanee Summer Music Festival is open to students ages 12 through college and beyond. Instrumental training is offered in chamber and symphonic music, along with classes in theory and musicianship, composition, conducting, private lessons, master classes, guest artists, recitals and concerts. The festival attracts an international enrollment and faculty and is presented by the University of the South.

Bud Shank Jazz Workshop
Port Townsend, Wash.
www.centrum.org/Jazz.aspx
The Bud shank Workshop – designed to serve intermediate to advanced players, including outstanding high school students – provides a week of intensive study and interaction with internationally acclaimed jazz artists. The workshop includes improvisation, jazz theory, masterclasses, panel discussions and ensemble rehearsals. The camp’s name derives from artistic director Bud Shank, who plays alto sax. He has been a part of the international jazz scene for 50 years.

Skidmore Summer Flute Institute
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
www.skidmore.edu/summer
The Skidmore Summer Flute Institute’s week of music-making is open to all flutists – students, teachers, professionals and amateurs. Daily schedules include master classes, ensemble rehearsals, private lessons and recitals. Performance opportunities for Institute flutists will include master classes and at least three solo and ensemble concerts.

Skidmore Jazz Institute
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
www.skidmore.edu/adminstration/osp/page-jazz.htm
The Skidmore Jazz Institute at Skidmore College features daily combo and improvisational classes, private instruction, master classes and opportunities to perform. Students range in ability from intermediate through adult. The two-week Skidmore Jazz Institute is held in collaboration with the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA) School of Jazz Studies. The Institute’s faculty will work closely with students in jazz combos and workshops by day and perform by night.

Smith Walbridge Clinics
Savoy, Ill.
www.swclinics.com
Hosted at Eastern Illinois University, Smith Walbridge Clinics are specialized summer clinics for drum majors, flags, rifles, marching band, marching percussion, student leadership and mace/signal baton, since 1949. Last summer, more than 900 high school and college students from 20 states attended this nationally famous summer clinic.

Stanford Jazz Workshop
Stanford, Calif.
www.stanfordjazz.org/Education/1.1.aspx
The Stanford Jazz Workshop’s Jazz Camp is a summer jazz education program for students of all levels, ages 12 to 17, and for all instruments (including strings and vocalists). The program offers intensive musical training through a variety of classes, including theory, musicianship, masterclasses, jazz history, ensemble playing and private lessons. Each night of the jazz camp, members of the faculty perform in concerts. The last concert of the week is the student concert, in which every student performs with the ensemble they’ve been working with all week. There are two consecutive one-week sessions: July 21-27 and July 28-Aug. 3.

St. Olaf Music Camp
Northfield, Minn.
www.stolaf.edu/summer
The St. Olaf Music Camp is a performance-based, week of classes, lessons, rehearsals and practice for high school students. Large ensembles rehearse twice a day and students’ daily schedules are filled out with classes chosen from a list of courses, such as ear-training, theory, chamber music, conducting, jazz improvisation and rhythm. Two private lessons with a faculty member are included.

UNC Greensboro Summer Music Camp
Greensboro, NC
www.smcamp.org
Two one-week music camps are offered, with programs in band, mixed chorus, orchestra and piano, serving over 1,730 musicians. Students at the camp are under the leadership and guidance of the artist-faculty of UNCG School of Music. Ensemble performance in band, chorus, or orchestra is stressed and each camp will conclude on Friday evening with a concert. Classes in basic musicianship, as well as recital performances and master classes by the camp staff members will serve to balance the total program.

Green Bay Summer Camps
University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, Wis.
www.uwgbsummercamps.com
The UW-Green Bay Summer Music Camps offer a variety of one-week intensive music camps for middle and high school students. Sessions include: middle school band, orchestra and choir, senior high band, orchestra and choir; jazz ensemble; vocal jazz/gospel choir; and guitar. Rehearsals, sectionals, master classes, theory classes, and special interest areas are taught on the stages and in the studios of the music department on the 700-acre campus of UW – Green Bay. All camps end with a professional performance for family and friends, and some of the larger performances take place on the stage of the nationally-known Weidner Center for the Performing Arts.

Wisconsin Conservatory of Music Jazz Camp
Milwaukee, Wis.
www.wcmusic.org/jazzworkshop03/jazzworkshop03.htm
The Wisconsin Conservatory of Music is offering its eighth annual Jazz Workshop for middle and high school students June 16 – 27. Top jazz instructors from the Conservatory’s faculty will lead the workshop, which is targeted at both the serious jazz student and the jazz novice. Two classes will be offered – Introduction to Jazz, for middle school students and high school novices; and High School Jazz Workshop, for experienced high school players. The beginners’ workshop teaches the basics through listening, demonstrations and playing opportunities. The High School Jazz Workshop includes small combo and special performance opportunities.

Vivace Productions Inc.
West Chester, Penn.
www.vivaceproductions.com
Programs offered include the marching band workshop, the leadership training program and the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy, which focus on teaching students how to be better band members and leaders. These programs are offered in one- and two-day formats at locations throughout the United States.