Our summer music camp ended up with a "real bang"! We put together a trash can band and the students loved it without exception! We were even successful at getting the beginners to perform dotted rhythms independently and at having team competitions on the trash cans.
Both the band director and I consider the week a wonderful success! We were both tired out though and are ready to have some quiet time. We intended to teach note reading, music terms and symbols, and more complicated concepts, but our main focus was on rhythm. I have already had one of my beginning guitar students in guitar class after he attended camp, and I was amazed at the difference in him! I am eager to see how beginning band lessons next week turn out.
We are going to do an evaluation this week and discuss what worked and what had to be changed or modified. Next week I am hoping to go into more detail about what we did with the students. We asked what they liked best about this week and which things they didn't care for. The younger group was so excited and were eager to tell us that they liked everything! A couple of students in the older group said that they liked the worksheets the least, but at the same time they could see benefits from having done them.
I am sure that we will do this camp next year along with a couple of other camps. We had a few students ask if we could do one for older students. This one focused on 3rd-7th grade but could easily be changed to include high school students.
Two of my piano students want to help with the camp next year and the student that helped this year wants to be included again next summer. Jennifer, this year's helper, is off to college but the other two will be juniors in high school so will be a big help.
Sally Ritchie
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