Week 3 day 2

Day 2 of Week 3 seemed to come straight out of Death Valley (at least for the majority of us who are used to nice cool Washington summers)! The heat made us all lethargic, but we interns tried to keep things cool with a fan in each classroom. We played a rousing card game indoors while waiting for camp to start, and then headed off to sectionals.

Due to our plethora of cellist campers and interns, I’ve been filling in the percussion section this week. I’m extremely excited to learn some basic percussion skills (including just how much patience it takes!), so our sole drumming camper and I got to have special instruction from the camp director himself, Mr. Wilbert. Our hard work paid off and we had a blast when the first full orchestra rehearsal of the day came around! The group is already sounding fantastic, and I can’t wait to hear the end result.

During one free hour, I got to go visit all the small ensembles and take a few pictures. It looks like all the classes are coming along fantastically, from the cheery, melodic sounds of the marimbas to the familiar refrains of Mozart. It was also fun to see the campers dressed up in the day’s theme- summery Hawaiian leis and garishly bright neon clothing!

By the end of the day, we were all about to collapse from the heat. Despite our exhaustion, we had a great, productive final rehearsal, and wrapped things up with a preview from assistant director Jenny of tomorrow’s theme- wacky Wednesday! I’m looking forward to seeing all the crazy costumes, and now I’m off to go find one of my own! Happy practicing, campers!

~ Erin Brown

Week 3 day 3

Hello! My name is Brita Moore, and I am a cello intern. Wednesday at BYSO Summer Camp was extremely hot, just as the first two days were, but everyone still managed to have a great time. Our theme today was Wacky Wednesday, which meant we had to wear clothes and accessories that were pretty much insane. I didn't exactly go all out personally, but some students really took advantage of the opportunity to wear silly things.
So far, no one has suffered terribly because of the heat. The staff members are doing their best to keep everyone happy and motivated. We have encouraged the students to drink plenty of fluids (especially water!) and take it easy if they get tired. We also brought Otter Pops for snack time today - always a good treat in the heat. :) During lunch time, a group of us played the game In a Pickle, which we discovered yesterday morning and love to play. Tomorrow we are having a waterfight! This will be a welcome relief from the heat and stress.
Musically, we are quite impressed with the students' abilities. I was assigned to the viola sectionals (there were too many cello interns for one section), and they sound great. It is probably the strongest section in the orchestra in terms of sound. The orchestra as a whole is doing extremely well. Hopefully the sound will continue to improve, and on Friday these students' parents' jaws will drop.
That's all for now! Stay cool, and practice hard.
- Brita

Week 2- The last day!

Week 2 day 5

What a hot way to end a fine week of camp. Even though it was hot out, the campers seemed even more energetic than ever. Rehearsal in the morning was tense; everyone was trying to play their best in preparation for the concert. Dr. Metzger Howe found a couple places to work on for sectionals, but most importantly, she loosened everybody up so they could relax and truly play their best.

Sadly, I missed the second half of the day due to a couple hours of setting up chairs and stands in the park. However, from what I heard from the campers, it was one of the most fun days of their elective classes. When everyone got to the park where the concert was to take place, everyone was in good spirits and all set to play. The audience grew and grew, but not one of the orchestra members became nervous. However, the wind started to grow and many of the coaches started to get nervous about holding the music on the stands.

Individuals played beautifully during the concerts. The solos were flowing, singing, and very musically played. What stole the show was the ability of everyone to stay together. It was most apparent in the big orchestra where, although we could not hear as well due to playing outside, the members of the orchestra watched Dr. Metzger Howe’s baton carefully to stay together and create beautiful orchestral music.

After the concert, many were sad to see each other go, but everyone was proud of the music and friendships they created during this fabulous week of camp.


Timmy Locke

Week 2, Day 4

Today was a pretty eventful day at camp. As we move closer to the concert day, teachers begin to intensify the practice time, tightening up loose ends. Much improvement has been made since the beginning of camp, although there is still some work to be done. However, ensembles are coming together nicely, creating great music.

For the special seminar today, Dr. Metzger Howe led the orchestra in some sight reading of movie music. We played selections from Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Hook. I think that almost everyone enjoyed playing music from familiar movies.

During the final orchestra rehearsal of the day, we were able to run through all the pieces for tomorrow's concert without stopping. No major train wrecks occurred, which is an amazing feat considering that the ensemble has only been playing together since Monday.

Following camp today, several campers braved the chilly weather and had a water fight. To the seven of you who willingly allowed yourselves to become drenched with water balloons, squirt guns, buckets of water, and the hose, I salute you. Way to keep the traditional camp water fight alive.

Jenny Keith

Week 2, Day 3

Week 2 day 3

Camp was full of surprises today! When we arrived, Dr. Metzger Howe surprised us with a brand new piece, The Theme From E.T.. The sight reading gave the orchestra a bit of trouble at first, but by the end of the first rehearsal the piece was already sounding like the movie despite the lack of brass and bassists in the orchestra. In addition, the Massenet is coming along beautifully with wonderful solos and harmonies.

Walking around during sectionals, all of the coaches are doing a fantastic job of blending the different sounds of the campers that they just met two days ago. The sections all know each other well after just two days! Everyone is in a happy mood despite the unexpected clouds in the sky cooling off what has been such a hot week.

Today’s seminar was my favorite so far, guitar class. Everyone paired up and sat in a circle while Mr. Wilbert taught us the basics of guitar. “Guitar,” he said, “is easy to play as a secondary instrument because mostly you accompany a soloist by playing a set of chords.” He taught us simple chords and everyone picked it up fairly quickly. Time just whizzed by as we strummed chords to Leaving on a Jet Plane sung beautifully by Mr. Wilbert himself.

At the end of the day, officially half way through the camp, the two day old orchestra not only sounds, but looks like it has been together for months. As the clouds finally cleared, everything was looking up and everyone was looking forward to the last half of camp.

Timmy Locke

Week 2 of Camp

Week two of camp has gotten off to a great start so far! As I wander down the hallways, snapping a few pictures here and there or checking on the classes, I can hear music. Music that is coming together – and it’s only day two of camp.

It’s amazing how much progress students have made since yesterday. I can already hear parts that have been practiced or worked on, which pays off in the groups. For example, Dr. Metzger Howe was able to do a complete run through of one of the pieces in orchestra, a feat impressive for only the second day of camp.

During week two of camp, students have the opportunity to attend various seminars. Today Mr. Blough gave a lecture on auditioning, something all musicians have to experience at one point in time or another. He offered tips on how to prepare for an audition, as well as demonstrating a mock audition.

Overall, today was a successful day. Despite the heat, much was accomplished, resulting in a more refined sample of music.

Jenny Keith

Day 5 of Camp!

Whew, what a spectacular way to end week one of BYSO Summer Camp! Today was a BLAST, despite the blistering heat and various other predicaments. The interns kicked off the day with our final ensemble rehearsal to ensure that our piece would run as smoothly as possible during the concert. After that, a game of “Capture the Flag” was initiated as the kids slowly began pouring in. The rest of the day – including our concert dress rehearsal – seemed to whizz by in a conglomerated mess.

Then came the time for the concert. As parents began taking their seats in the audience, I happened to notice that a few of the kids appeared anxious and apprehensive. They had an entirely justified reason to have been acting that way, as for many of the kids, this was likely their first concert!

The concert opened with various ensemble performances from the kids, which ranged from African drumming to jazz and even folk fiddling! Each performance was superiorly executed and had far-exceeded everyone’s expectations. The intern ensemble was largely a success as well. The concert concluded with several songs from the full orchestra, and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “Shadow Dance,” and “Dark Adventure” were the main highlights of the concert and had received hearty applause from the audience.

Having to say goodbye to the kids and my fellow interns after the concert was undoubtedly sad, but I shall keep my hopes high that I will see them again in the near future. As I look back, I realize what a pleasurable and extremely rewarding experience this week has been. I will most certainly be applying to become a BYSO Summer Camp intern next year as well!

Mana Maloney

Day 4 of Camp!

Camp today was the best so far. We played an intense game of Capture the Flag in the morning with all the campers playing against the four interns. We were totally dominated by the overwhelming number of campers.

As one of the interns taking care of the non-orchestra instrument campers, I spent my morning in the percussion room watching our brand new drummers sounding more and more like kids who have spent several years playing drums. Their improvement over the past four days has been remarkable. We have managed to teach them congas, snare, xylophone, the “fish” among others and they look forward to demonstrating their new skills tomorrow.

The improvement is also noticeable in the beginning instruments class on trumpet, trombone, flute and clarinet.

In the African drums class, we have been having a great time every day laying down some soulful beats in tune with African drum circle music.

The best part of today, or course, was the water fight. Picture an army of young campers set loose on six buckets filled to the brim with water balloons and an arsenal of super soakers. Let’s just say the interns got soaked! I could not spot an inch of dry clothing on me. Even Mr. Wilbert needed a towel by the end!The orchestra with its new percussion section is making great progress and the concert tomorrow will be fantastic.

Peter Cole

Day 3 of Camp

Well the third day of camp was very exciting! The kids and interns started the day off with a nice round of Capture the Flag outside on the field. It was a nice change to see that they were having as much fun outside as going inside and playing in the orchestra. All the kids had a blast preparing for the concert on Friday and we were getting better each day; even, Ms. Doerrfeld admits that we were ready!

The biggest news today was at the announcements. After all was said and done, Mr. Wilburt told us that tomorrow we will have a water fight after the camp! Almost everyone cheered, except the interns, probably because we are about to get soaked!

Mike Chan

Day 2 of Camp

Alright! So, camp today was awesome! The clothing theme was superheroes. There was quite a bit of participation! We had a ninja, Goofy (from the seven dwarfs I think), and I wore a Marti Gras mask and a rubber snake. There were many other costumes that were too numerous to mention.

So before camp started, while kids were still getting checked in, we had an intense game of freeze tag. Everyone was running around and had a great time. One particular kid was very memorable in that he wasn’t really playing the game. He would walk around, and when he was tagged, he would announce, “I’m invincible!” When I was running away from another intern who was it, I dropped my snake, ran about 20 feet, and got tagged. Two young tricksters grabbed my rubber snake and managed to hide it from me until lunch time.

First period, as always, is a sectional. The cello’s sectional was awesome, and from the bits I heard of the others, the entire orchestra is doing excellent.
After the sectional is a rehearsal of the entire orchestra, which went well. All our pieces are coming along nicely. Apparently, several of the students took the initiative and watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as well. One of our pieces comes from that movie.
Next came snack time. A VERY IMPORTANT part of the day. After that the day zoomed by through chamber ensemble, and jazz, and another orchestra rehearsal.
The camp is going great so far. Tomorrow is wacky day! So lets see how crazy we can get!

- Kyle Hersey

Welcome to the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra Camp!

I hope you are ready for a week of fun, inspiration and excitement! On behalf of our entire staff of adults and interns, I would like to welcome you and thank you for joining us.

It is our hope that this week will be not only a memorable part of your summer, but an inspiration to continue participating in music for years to come. It is our hope that each and every student at camp will:

- Improve as a musician on their main instrument
- Learn new styles of music and learn about other instruments
- Meet new friends who love music as much as you do

The camp staff and interns are all here to make sure you have the best experience possible, so please don’t be shy to ask us questions or ask for help!

Looking forward to a fantastic week,

Mark Wilbert
Camp Director

Summer Camp Daily Blog Coming

Wanna stay up-to-date with what's happening at the BYSO Summer Camp? Starting in mid- July each day a summer camp staffer will post a blog report with photos on what happened the previous day in camp. From the funny to the interesting to the musically inspiring, we'll get all the updates right here! So, bookmark the page now, and we'll see you starting July 13th with a special message from BYSO Summer Camp Director, Mr. Mark Wilbert!

Cheers,

BYSO Bloggers!