Band Camp is over!
Back everyone!
I learned a lot from my experiences at band camp, despite being a counselor and not a camper. Very quickly, here is a list:
1. Bring a toaster and coffee machine next year to band camp- apparently I didn't learn that the coffee tastes like shit the last time.
2. The more food you can take from home the better.
3. I will always be the only person who will volunteer to play three different instruments in a condensed amount of time like this.
4. I should invest in an Eb clarinet.
The rest of this is much too long to not put behind a cut, so I will do that! Thank you if you read~
That being said, I found I grew so much myself as both a musician and a teacher, and how to approach children. I went into band camp with a couple goals: helping the kids' musicality, technicality, and knowledge of their instruments; helping them gain a sense of confidence that they didn't have before; helping them just have an incredibly fun week. At the end of the week, so many kids actually came up to me and said that they felt all of that, which really made me happy for them. But it didn't come easilly, and a lot of things shocked me through out the whole week of things that went on.
In my suite I was in charge of seven girls, which is a bit frightening from a counselor's perspective, but my girls were angels. They went to bed early, they woke up on time, they never caused havoc, they cleaned up after themselves, and were pretty much a counselor's dream. They made my job so easy and I really adored them. On top of that they are all talented- most of them were either first or second chair in their instrument. The very first night they were there, I didn't exactly know what to do so I had them all make signs for their bedrooms and introduce themselves. Even I thought that this was a boring activity, but they all participated enthusiastically. As the week went on I saw just how much they all took to one another. They ate lunches together, played games together, walked everywhere together. It was so heartwarming to see how close they all became.
I also helped a lot of the kids with their music. One of the girls I helped wasn't in my suite and I didn't know her name, but I spent about 20 minutes helping her read rhythms for a song. Apparently it really made an impression on her, because she put me down as her favorite counselor in the questionaire at the end. The clarinet choir and the woodwind quintet I helped teach were very much the same way. They were both pretty terrible at the beginning of the week, however as they kept at the music they improved greatly. They were so adorable, all wide excited smiles when they performed for their classmates and knew that they did extremely well. Ther concert at the end of the week was brilliant too. Conductor in residence Francisco Noya of the Rhode Island Philharmonic guest conducted a song and it was undoubtedly the best song of the whole concert. I adore how that man does it, he's one of my favorite conductors out there. I can't wait to see him in concert in a week or so!
Of course there were the bad parts though. I was absolutely disappointed in how the other counselors handled the kids. It's like they didn't understand that this camp was for the kids and not themselves. They hardly ever hung out with the kids, eat dinners with them, or kept an eye on them at night. I hung out with the kids the whole time and they never felt smothered, but instead really appreciated it. The lack of counselor help caused a lot of problems, especially because of the suite next to mine. The girls in that suite were the type of girls that should have had someone keeping an eye on them. You have to understand that the kids play for about 6-7 hours a day, maybe more if they practice during rec time. These girls would do that and practice very late at night, which is very dangerous physically. I had to go in there many times because they were waking my girls up with all the noise. Their counselor was never around to tell them to stop and take a break for the night. It really upset me, and a couple times I had to invite them into my suite just to make them stop playing.
Finally I sat down and had a heart to heart with them. I loved their enthusiasm, and their want to get better, but it won't happen if they don't practice smartly. I told them they are awesome for it, and that I adore them as well. One of the girls looked at me with huge eyes and said, "No one's ever called me awesome before." ...my heart MELTED. How can you be mad at someone when they say that?!
Anyways, the counselors ended up really pissing me off by the end of the week, and I think that the way they were treating me was terrible too. They were wishy-washy on how to take care of the kids- it's ok to leave them alone in a suite, for example, with no counselor during the week nights, but to let a girl go up alone to the suite during the ice cream social because she's lactose intolerant? Apparently that's a HUGE problem. It's ok to let some kids be obnoxious and practice and scream and sing at the top of their lungs, but a group of girls doing it on the last night just for a prank is a big no-no. I was so upset by that last one actually, I think I took it as a bigger personal insult than the girls did. And it's ok to talk to some of the counselors during a counselor meeting and not all of the counselors, which was a waste of my fucking time.
Frustrations aside from the counselors and how poorly most of them handled things, I DID have a fun time. Like I said, I learned a lot about teaching, and about playing. Before I never really thought much about doing long tones, but the Northeast Navy Show Band came to do a concert one evening and the lead sax/clarinet player insisted that those are extremely important. From now on, I'm going to start doing them.
I will be doing some writing soon, but not today most likely- much too tired! Today will be for napping and practicing. :)
I learned a lot from my experiences at band camp, despite being a counselor and not a camper. Very quickly, here is a list:
1. Bring a toaster and coffee machine next year to band camp- apparently I didn't learn that the coffee tastes like shit the last time.
2. The more food you can take from home the better.
3. I will always be the only person who will volunteer to play three different instruments in a condensed amount of time like this.
4. I should invest in an Eb clarinet.
The rest of this is much too long to not put behind a cut, so I will do that! Thank you if you read~
That being said, I found I grew so much myself as both a musician and a teacher, and how to approach children. I went into band camp with a couple goals: helping the kids' musicality, technicality, and knowledge of their instruments; helping them gain a sense of confidence that they didn't have before; helping them just have an incredibly fun week. At the end of the week, so many kids actually came up to me and said that they felt all of that, which really made me happy for them. But it didn't come easilly, and a lot of things shocked me through out the whole week of things that went on.
In my suite I was in charge of seven girls, which is a bit frightening from a counselor's perspective, but my girls were angels. They went to bed early, they woke up on time, they never caused havoc, they cleaned up after themselves, and were pretty much a counselor's dream. They made my job so easy and I really adored them. On top of that they are all talented- most of them were either first or second chair in their instrument. The very first night they were there, I didn't exactly know what to do so I had them all make signs for their bedrooms and introduce themselves. Even I thought that this was a boring activity, but they all participated enthusiastically. As the week went on I saw just how much they all took to one another. They ate lunches together, played games together, walked everywhere together. It was so heartwarming to see how close they all became.
I also helped a lot of the kids with their music. One of the girls I helped wasn't in my suite and I didn't know her name, but I spent about 20 minutes helping her read rhythms for a song. Apparently it really made an impression on her, because she put me down as her favorite counselor in the questionaire at the end. The clarinet choir and the woodwind quintet I helped teach were very much the same way. They were both pretty terrible at the beginning of the week, however as they kept at the music they improved greatly. They were so adorable, all wide excited smiles when they performed for their classmates and knew that they did extremely well. Ther concert at the end of the week was brilliant too. Conductor in residence Francisco Noya of the Rhode Island Philharmonic guest conducted a song and it was undoubtedly the best song of the whole concert. I adore how that man does it, he's one of my favorite conductors out there. I can't wait to see him in concert in a week or so!
Of course there were the bad parts though. I was absolutely disappointed in how the other counselors handled the kids. It's like they didn't understand that this camp was for the kids and not themselves. They hardly ever hung out with the kids, eat dinners with them, or kept an eye on them at night. I hung out with the kids the whole time and they never felt smothered, but instead really appreciated it. The lack of counselor help caused a lot of problems, especially because of the suite next to mine. The girls in that suite were the type of girls that should have had someone keeping an eye on them. You have to understand that the kids play for about 6-7 hours a day, maybe more if they practice during rec time. These girls would do that and practice very late at night, which is very dangerous physically. I had to go in there many times because they were waking my girls up with all the noise. Their counselor was never around to tell them to stop and take a break for the night. It really upset me, and a couple times I had to invite them into my suite just to make them stop playing.
Finally I sat down and had a heart to heart with them. I loved their enthusiasm, and their want to get better, but it won't happen if they don't practice smartly. I told them they are awesome for it, and that I adore them as well. One of the girls looked at me with huge eyes and said, "No one's ever called me awesome before." ...my heart MELTED. How can you be mad at someone when they say that?!
Anyways, the counselors ended up really pissing me off by the end of the week, and I think that the way they were treating me was terrible too. They were wishy-washy on how to take care of the kids- it's ok to leave them alone in a suite, for example, with no counselor during the week nights, but to let a girl go up alone to the suite during the ice cream social because she's lactose intolerant? Apparently that's a HUGE problem. It's ok to let some kids be obnoxious and practice and scream and sing at the top of their lungs, but a group of girls doing it on the last night just for a prank is a big no-no. I was so upset by that last one actually, I think I took it as a bigger personal insult than the girls did. And it's ok to talk to some of the counselors during a counselor meeting and not all of the counselors, which was a waste of my fucking time.
Frustrations aside from the counselors and how poorly most of them handled things, I DID have a fun time. Like I said, I learned a lot about teaching, and about playing. Before I never really thought much about doing long tones, but the Northeast Navy Show Band came to do a concert one evening and the lead sax/clarinet player insisted that those are extremely important. From now on, I'm going to start doing them.
I will be doing some writing soon, but not today most likely- much too tired! Today will be for napping and practicing. :)