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Summer Camp
by Stephen Laifer

You’re enjoying music making and the camaraderie that comes from being part of the band, but you’d like to widen those learning horizons even more. Good news: a New Horizons summer camp might be just the ticket.

Members of the Olympia New Horizons Band in Olympia, Washington know firsthand the many benefits of attending a summer camp, from the point of view of being both participants and organizers. The enthusiastic Olympians hosted their first summer camp in 2003, and are preparing to host another, July 12-17, this year—a remarkable amount of activity when you consider that the band was only established six years ago.

The Olympia band started in 1999 with 13 people showing up for the first rehearsal, and by the autumn of 2004 it had more than 30 members. Seven members are still with the organization from that original core of 13. The band gave its first official concert in April of 2000. Since that time, their typical concert schedule has evolved to include regular rehearsals and a goal of two to four performances a year, providing a fairly full roster of learning opportunities for band members of all abilities. Still, many Olympia band members felt that a camp might provide even more chances to grow and learn, as well as opening up another important door: communication and interaction with members of other bands from around the region, and across the country.

Percussionist Carolyn Hendricks was the coordinator for the band’s first summer camp in July 2003. “The previous year, seven of us from Olympia attended the Cambria Pines Music Institute, a summer camp hosted by the Santa Barbara New Horizons Band in California, and that was our first experience with anything like this,” says Carolyn. “It was such an exhilarating experience that we began thinking about our band organizing a similar event.” While in Cambria, Carolyn and her fellow band members spoke to New Horizons founder Dr. Roy Ernst about the possibility of hosting a summer camp in Olympia. “Roy was all for it,” she says. “He felt there was a great need for a summer camp in the Pacific Northwest.”

Band Beginner to Camp Coordinator

Carolyn came to the New Horizons program in 2000, joining her husband Jerry, a career civil engineer who was one of the Olympia New Horizons Band’s founding members. The couple met while Jerry was building a 700-foot bridge. “The end of the bridge landed just about on her doorstep,” he recalls with a laugh.

“When I joined the band, I hadn’t played the clarinet in 42 years,” says Jerry, who was still working at the time when he saw an article in the paper for a new band starting up in Olympia. “In fact, I was terrified when I started playing again. If it wasn’t for Roy Ernst, I’d still be going down my list of things I want to do when I retire.”

When retirement time finally arrived, Jerry and Carolyn decided to take a few months off to travel. “I did some research on the Internet and discovered there were New Horizons bands in cities that we wanted to visit,” Jerry continues. “I got in touch with them and asked if I could sit in, and they were completely welcoming.”

Their first stop was Santa Barbara. Carolyn came along to the rehearsal—and unexpectedly got roped into playing the bass drum. “I could read music because I played the piano, but I’d never played percussion before,” she says. But Jerry turned around, took one look at the smile on his wife’s face, and knew that making music in the New Horizons program would be a great activity for them to do together. Carolyn has now been playing percussion with the Olympia band for four years, while Jerry is the band’s president and also sits on the national board for the New Horizons International Music Association.

Organization Is Key

Carolyn says utilizing available talent is important in planning a successful camp, and she’s actually her own best example: an event planner prior to retirement, coordinating the Olympians’ first camp in 2003 was “a natural fit” for her. Of course, she’s quick to add that one of the most indispensable ingredients is a capable and enthusiastic staff. “We had a great organizing committee of 10, who stayed with me through the year it took to make the camp a reality.”

Carolyn and her committee identified three main goals that need to be established early in the organization process: first, a venue needs to be secured for the camp; second, the dates must be locked down; and step three involves contacting the directors of New Horizons bands that you’d like to have participate in the camp. The 2003 camp involved not only the Olympia band’s director, Vic Jowders, but also directors from New Horizons Bands in Oregon and Arizona. Roy Ernst also contributed his particular brand of energy and expertise.

Being frequent attendees at other New Horizons summer camps around the country, the Hendricks are firm believers in hosting regional band camps. The Olympia band is allied with a neighboring New Horizons band in Tacoma, and they report that there are people of all ages who came to the 2003 camp from the Olympia/Tacoma area. “There are enthusiastic players who may not be able to attend a camp elsewhere due to health problems or the expense involved,” says Carolyn. “Regional camps give these people the opportunity to participate as commuters, while still enjoying the full camp experience for the week.”

Learning on Many Levels

Hard work aside, contact with other New Horizons bands and their members provides countless opportunities to learn and grow over the course of the week. Socialization is a vital component, so the schedule for each day starts with a communal breakfast before the morning rehearsal. Everyone typically meets together again for lunch, while evenings feature additional rehearsals or the opportunity to explore the area’s nightlife. The camp concludes with a final evening concert and farewell social hour. As the week ends, participants are often overheard speaking of feeling a certain sadness that it’s flown by so quickly.

“It’s gotten to the point that I know nearly all the people who are attending our camp this year. It’s like Old Home Week.”
—Carolyn Hendricks

Learning works in both directions. Alongside sharing musical ideas and playing techniques, an equally vital aspect of any summer camp is the chance to exchange a wealth of planning and organization methods with other groups. This is especially important to a relatively young, developing group like the Olympia band. In order to take full advantage of the opportunities for interaction, Carolyn says she even asks her committee members to sit with different bands at mealtimes, and exchange ideas. “We also get together in small groups to talk about how they do things. Do they have a band manager, and what is his or her duties? How do they get information out to the public? How do they get performance dates? We can all take ideas on those kinds of topics back home with us, and apply them.”

Carolyn says what’s especially interesting is that each band camp has a completely different feel, in terms of the venue and the overall experience. “That’s a major part of the attraction of attending a summer camp. The experience here in the Northwest is much different, for example, from what a camper might find in Dayton, Ohio—but the fun is the same.”

To Do — Or Not to Do

Though its first camp was an unqualified success, Olympia band organizers know they can find areas to improve on before July. From their experiences, the Hendricks are ready with a number of ideas for other New Horizons bands who hope to host their own camps. “Don’t try to make it like any other camp,” Carolyn offers as her first bit of advice. “Make it unique, just like your group is unique. You can get into trouble thinking that things have to be in a specific format. There are no set rules, and many different approaches are equally successful.” Having said that, however, she feels it is essential to have more than two people organizing the camp. “The process of putting together a summer camp is wonderfully rewarding, but there is a lot of work. Spreading the responsibility around keeps it fun for everyone involved, especially once the camp actually gets going.”

Another important consideration is to keep the expense of attending a summer camp as low as possible, so that the largest possible number of people can attend. Then there are the other all-important details: scheduling rehearsals, making up band camp T-shirts and name tags, and printing up enough promotional materials. If it all seems a little overwhelming, perhaps the best bit of advice comes from Jerry: “In the end, don’t plan on doing anything except having fun. Don’t go with any other expectations.”

Friends Forever

The fun factor is perhaps the most attractive reason for hosting—and attending—a summer camp. “Our first camp put us on the map, so to speak,” says Carolyn. “New Horizons members came from all over the country, from here in Washington to as far away as New York State.” Those contacts typically lead to lasting friendships among band campers who share a common interest. For example, the Hendricks have visited the Phoenix New Horizons Band in Carefree, Arizona for several years. “We now have friends down there who, when they know we’re coming, will have us spend the night with them and have dinner. This is something that we never anticipated for our retirement,” says Carolyn. “It’s gotten to the point that I know nearly all the people who are planning on attending our camp this year. It’s like Old Home Week.”

In fact, Carolyn comments proudly that many people who attended the Olympia band’s 2003 camp said it was the most friendly one they’d been to. While those compliments were ample reward for all the hard work, for Carolyn, the best comment came from their band director in Olympia, Vic Jowders, who at the end of the camp, told the band with tears in his eyes that it was the best week he’d had in his life.

In the end, say the Hendricks, New Horizons band camps offer ways to explore making music, and provide unbeatable opportunities to meet new people and explore different parts of the country. After all, like the name says: it’s all about New Horizons.

—The Olympia New Horizons Band’s website, www.olynhb.com, presents a detailed account of the band’s experiences in planning and executing their 2003 camp, in addition to information on attending the upcoming camp in July. For more on the summer camp experience, as well as extensive resources and information on the New Horizons Band program, visit www.newhorizonsmusic.org. For a calendar listing of New Horizons summer camps, log on to www.musicfortheloveofit.com.

Stephen Laifer is an active freelance professional musician. He also writes features for a variety of publications around the country.