|
|
|
|
Welcome
Meet Anna - Summer Symposium Headquarters Blog Host!
Welcome to the 2007 Summer Symposium Headquarters Blog, hosted by Music for All Summer Intern, Anna Donnelson. Anna will be sharing thoughts and observations from behind-the-scenes at the Symposium as well as interviews with Team SWAG members, other interns, students and staff!
Use the tabs above to read about daily life at the Summer Symposium! If you have any content requests or suggestions, send them to music@musicforall.org.
Also be sure to explore the musicforall.org web site and the NEW Music for All Network where you can tell us what music means to you.
6/22/2007
Greetings from the 2007 Music for All Summer Symposium!
My name is Anna Donnelson and I am the Marketing Intern this summer for Music for All. I will be keeping you up to date on the events and happenings plus some behind-the-scenes looks here at camp on this daily HQ blog.
This is the first year that the Summer Symposium will be running under the new Music for All name and the staff is excited to continue the positively life-changing experiences that the Bands of America Summer Symposium has delivered to students for over 30 years. Over 1,500 students and 200 directors will be attending camp this year at Illinois State University, including 34 middle school directors for our brand new Middle School Director Track! The faculty including 150 clinicians and over 70 Team SWAG volunteers will help the Music for All staff make this Summer Symposium the best experience yet!
On Wednesday, the Music for All staff packed up the Indianapolis office and headed west to relocate to Illinois State University. It was quite the journey with the staff caravanning in multiple trucks, vans and cars. Yesterday, we spent the morning unloading and unpacking all the materials for camp at Bone Student Center and Braden Auditorium. In the afternoon, everyone set up their desks and started preparing materials for Leadership Weekend registration on Saturday.
Yesterday afternoon, the SWAG team arrived and began to settle in. Team SWAG is a group of volunteers that helps drive the camp and supervise the students during their stay here. They are extremely energetic, helpful and an essential part to making the Summer Symposium an experience to remember. Today, they prepared for the week by participating in leadership sessions, helped the staff stuff notebooks and had some fun in a drum circle. The camp notebooks are specified for each camper and director with the materials and information they need for their specific tracks.
Overall, it has been a busy, productive and great start to the camp experience. I'm getting excited for the kickoff of the Leadership Weekend tomorrow. This is my first experience with the Summer Symposium and I can't wait to see how the camp functions and what the different components have to offer! As a last note, for those who haven't already heard, The Cavaliers have recently decided to join the DCI competition next Friday. The lineup includes Memphis Sound, Colt Cadets, Pacific Crest, Colts, The Cavaliers, Spirit from JSU, Glassmen, Santa Clara Vanguard and the Bluecoats, who are serving as our artists-in-residence this week. It's going to be a great show! So if you can come, check it out!
Until next time,
Anna
6/23/2007
Kicking off the Symposium with the Leadership Weekend Experience
Today began with the official registration for the Leadership Weekend. The doors opened early at 7:45 this morning in order for the Leadership Weekend campers to sign in and receive their notebooks of information. Team SWAG did a great job of greeting the campers and getting them to the right place for the beginning of the day. Registration went on without any problems and the campers were on their way!
This morning, I had the privilege to sit in on the kickoff for the Leadership Weekend. After introductions and basic expectations by Norm Ruebling, Camp Director, and Scott McCormick, Music for All's President and CEO, Fran Kick took the stage. In a fast-paced and exciting speech, Fran opened the Leadership Weekend and began to talk about what leadership is all about. Fran's speech caught me off guard. He spoke like no other inspirational speaker I've ever heard. He made the experience interactive and the campers didn't miss a beat getting involved. He spoke about focusing on your actions and not wasting as much time pointing out other's mistakes. He also spoke about keeping an open mind and how seeing situations from different perspectives can change your thinking. I could really feel the energy and excitement of the staff and it's infectious! I think this camp gives all the students involved a chance to grow as leaders and I can't wait to see the results of the weekend's work!
6/24/2007
Good morning!
I'm looking forward to another exciting day at camp during Leadership Weekend Day two. I plan to sit in on some of the leadership sessions today and I'm really excited to see what the kids are learning.
Yesterday was a busy day. While the staff was keeping busy in headquarters, the campers were attending leadership breakout sessions around campus. The leadership campers were divided into seven groups that rotated between the clinicians Fran Kick, Scott Lang, Frank DiLallo, Frank Troyka, Julie Buell, Frank Crockett and Matt Savage. From what I hear from the campers, they are having a great time and are learning a lot!
Around 7 p.m., headquarters was flooded with music as the Team SWAG had a reception of their own next door in Old Main. The upbeat songs kept me energized as I was working in headquarters. The SWAGs sounded like they were having so much fun! Some of the Music for All staff even went over to dance along for a couple of songs.
At 10 p.m., everyone headed to Milner Plaza for a surprise party for the Leadership campers. There was Dominos Pizza, drinks and lots of music! All the campers received a Leadership Weekend T-shirt and a marker so that they could sign other student shirts as well as the Leadership Faculty. It was great to see all of the campers running around and collecting signatures from friends, clinicians and staff. Everyone had such a good time dancing, talking and just getting to know each other!
I can only hope today goes just as well as yesterday! Stay tuned for another update later today.
Hello again!
It's after dinner here at the Summer Symposium and the Leadership Weekend campers are in their seventh and final breakout session. The weekend's activities are slowly coming to a close and the Leadership Weekend officially ends this evening. Although we are sad to see the weekend end, it means that the full week camp experience is upon us!
Tomorrow morning is registration for the full week of the Summer Symposium. Early arrivals have been slowly trickling in this evening and the staff has been working hard to make sure everyone has everything they need to make their week a great experience. The clinicians have been arriving as well and the division coordinators have their first sessions tonight as part of the Leadership Weekend.
I sat in on one of Scott Lang's leadership sessions this afternoon and found it extremely interesting. He fit an amazing amount of information into the short hour and twenty minute session. Each one of his sessions was different and was formed by the involvement and feedback of the student groups. In my session the students formed two circles that bordered the room. Each student paired up with a student in the other circle, introduced themselves, and shared two activities they did in band that strengthened the group. When Scott whistled, the inner circle rotated one spot and the process started all over again. By the end of the exercise the students had heard dozens of ideas that they could use as a leader in their band. They also took a quiz that showed them which level of leadership they were currently at and created a "Friday Five" list. This list consisted of five things that they could do as a student to improve different things in their band including their section and total band. Overall the session was a great experience!
My partner in crime, Jeremy, the PR intern at Music for All this summer, also attended a leadership session today. I've asked him to also write a blog for today so that we could share yet another camp experience for you! Before I go I would like to say hi to two people. First to any jazz trumpet and trombone players out there...although camp starts tomorrow it's not to late for you to attend! We need two more jazz trumpets and trombones to fill up the spaces in our jazz track so if you are interested please call us at (309) 452-9882. Secondly, I know my Mom (like a lot of parents) is reading this to keep up with what I am doing at camp. So...hi Mom!
Enjoy Jeremy's blog and see you tomorrow!
Guest Blog - Leadership Session with Julie Buell
My name is Jeremy DeWinter and I am the Public Relations intern this summer at Music for All. I have been around the Summer Symposium now for several years in differing capacities. Last year, I was a member of Team SWAG at camp but this year I've joined the Music for All staff in headquarters. My internship so far has provided me with a much different experience and perspective on camp, and I have never been more excited to see camp get rolling.
I hope that you are getting a good view of what is happening here in Illinois and I'm sure you are all hoping you could be here, too. The Leadership Weekend Experience will be ending this evening and from what I have seen, it has been a tremendous weekend for the almost 600 students that were able to join us.
I had the opportunity today to sit in on a session of the Leadership Weekend Experience with the students in Group F for an afternoon session with Julie Buell. Julie joins us this year on the Leadership Faculty and will continue throughout the week as a faculty member with the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy. Julie brings a very fresh perspective on leadership as she is currently entering her fifth year as the elementary music teacher at the Lincoln American International School in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Her session during the Leadership weekend gave students the opportunity to embrace diversity and how it relates to their roles as leaders. Julie's session is designed as a "safe space" room where group members embrace their differences. They covered topics associated with global and cultural awareness as well as stereotypes that each individual student has experienced. Students had the opportunity to share their own story with the group, which proved to be the most beneficial part of the session. I was very impressed and moved by the stories shared and courage it took to share them!
I am very excited to start the full week of camp tomorrow. I would like to thank Anna for asking me to join her today!
6/25/2007
Opening Day of the Symposium
Another registration has come and gone here at the Music for All Summer Symposium! Today's registration was a little bigger than the last with the remainder of our campers coming in today.
After registration was finished, all the students, directors and clinicians gathered in Braden Auditorium for the opening session of the main week of camp. There were short speeches by Norm Ruebling, the camp director, Scott McCormick, President and CEO of Music for All, and both the Vice President and Music Director of Illinois State University. The main presentation was by Fran Kick. He reintroduced some of the points that he had taught during the Leadership Weekend and talked about how the students could get the most out of the next week. There was also a short performance from Eddie Barbash and Stephen Renko, two Yamaha Young Performing Artists. It was definitely a fun performance to listen to!
The students' enthusiasm was incredible. When I entered the room before the session started, the campers were cheering and doing the wave in anticipation of the start of camp. They were having so much fun and the presentation hadn't even started! Each group stood up and cheered when their specific track was called by Norm. Everyone was so thrilled to get camp underway!
I'm going to do my best over the next week to visit all the tracks and get you an insider's view. I promise to do what I can to keep you informed on what is going on in every aspect of the camp experience! Tonight all the campers will be enjoying the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Concert that is being held in Braden Auditorium. I'll be there as well with the Music for All Staff so I will fill you in tomorrow!
6/26/2007
Good Morning!
Today is starting off as a very hot and humid day. If you are a parent of a camper and you talk to them today remind them to drink lots of water! Between my work at headquarters today I plan to walk around campus and check out some of the sessions. Make sure to check back later for more information!
Last night's concert was amazing. The Yamaha Young Performing Artists took the stage in Braden Auditorium last night at 8 o'clock. These artists are between the ages of 16 and 21 and are extremely talented. I was blown away last night by the technique and ability of the performers. It's hard to believe that they can be so accomplished at such a young age. The campers showed so much appreciation and enthusiasm for every performer and I have no doubt that they learned a lot just by watching. There was a great variety of music and instruments including:
Nathan Bogert, Saxophone
Ryu Cipris, Flute
Patrick Hopkins, Cello
Minjoo Jo, Piano
Edwin Barbash, Saxophone
Stephen Renko, Drums
Leelanee Sterrett, Horn
Emil Hudyyev, Clarinet
Jonathan Hill, Tuba
There were also two short performances by Allen Vizzutti that showed amazing technique on the trumpet. Overall it was a very enjoyable night and a great concert. Stay tuned later today for more information about what is going on here at camp.
Afternoon Activities on Campus
This afternoon, I had the opportunity to leave Headquarters and explore the different divisions of camp. Because of rain, lots of the afternoon activities were temporarily moved indoors.
We headed over to Kingsley Junior High School to visit the Marching Band Track. The students were in the middle of their group music rehearsal when we arrived. During our visit they played through the National Anthem and also Criminal, the piece they will be performing with the Bluecoats on Friday. As they worked through Criminal, the staff talked through the corresponding drill with the students. At the end of their group music practice each student went to sectionals to focus on the music.
As I headed back toward the "Quad" we ran into both flag and rifle color guard instructor sessions. It was really interesting to watch the clinicians show other color guard instructors some new moves and how to break them down. The flags did an awesome toss that I can't even describe, but I'll try! They held the silk of the flag and used it to swing the bar around and under their body and then jumped over it like jumping a rope. It was amazing! Some of the moves and tosses that the rifles were doing were amazing. I still don't understand how guard members can achieve such quick and high tosses!
Later we wandered into Centennial East and sat in on the Orchestra Division faculty recital. I thought that this was so awesome! It was a time for the faculty to play their respective instruments for the students that they are teaching. Then the students had the opportunity to ask questions. I can understand why each of these people were asked to teach clinics this week. They really know how to make their string instruments sing! We also got the special treat of seeing Nancy Campbell, one of the orchestra clinicians, play the erhu, a type of Chinese fiddle on which she is a specialist. It was fantastic!
I'm really starting to understand more about what the Music for All Summer Symposium is all about. There are so many amazing things going on in the different tracks at the same time. It's sad that it is impossible to catch them all! These students are really getting the opportunity to learn and grow through so many different activities. It really is a great experience.
I unfortunately missed a session that I really wanted to go to this morning because I was busy in headquarters. I asked Joli, Music for All's Development Coordinator, to write a blog about it so that you don't have to miss out!
Until next time!
Guest Blog - A Session with Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser
Good evening! My name is Joli Heavin and I am the Development Coordinator for Music for All. This is my first summer at the Symposium and I am so thrilled to be here! This morning I had the opportunity to attend Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser's special session with the Director Track participants called "Making a Difference." Dr. Tim, as he is lovingly referred to, is a very popular draw and for good reason. A former collegiate band director, Dr. Tim is a celebrated author, clinician, consultant, composer and conductor. He travels the country presenting lectures and workshops focused on effective leadership.
I could not have been more delighted and inspired by Dr. Tim's session. I laughed, I cried, I was moved. He combined factual, relevant information with both humorous and emotional anecdotes. He armed directors with tools necessary to become proactive music education advocates. Most importantly, he encouraged directors to give their full effort to teaching all children, regardless of personality, ability or talent. This really resonated with me as it exemplified our new mission. Music really is for ALL!
Thank you Dr. Tim for taking the time to visit us and thank you Anna for including me in your blog!
6/27/2007
Concert Band and Color Guard
Today was another exciting day at the Symposium. Unfortunately, I was very busy in headquarters today and didn't get out and about as much as I had hoped. However, I did get the chance to visit a couple of sessions.
This morning, I visited the concert band students in CPA Concert Hall. This year, we have four concert bands at camp, each named after their conductor's state. We have the Texas, Washington, California and Georgia Band. All four bands and the orchestra will be performing on Saturday as the culmination of all of their hard work this week. I ran into the Texas Band brass section practicing and breaking down their concert music. They focused on tuning, working on the hard musical passages and listening for chords formed across the sections. I really enjoyed watching them slowly work through the music. I could hear them improve even in the short time that I observed practice!
Later, I had the honor of sitting in on the color guard "Show and Tell" session. This is a really fantastic session in which the different sections of the Color Guard Track perform for each other. Each group shows the routine they have learned to date twice. Once to get out the nerves of performing in front of a group and the second to really let the performance shine. Not only were the performances great (it's amazing what these campers have learned in such a short time), but the support from camper to camper was just as great! After each performance, the campers would give a standing ovation for the performing group. All the smiles, screams and cheers were great to see, especially because these campers have been outside working hard! The session had to be cut short because of rain and the campers were quickly directed back toward Bone Student Center.
The campers really have a great concert series this year. Last night, they got to see both The Capitol Quartet presented by Yamaha and Synergy Brass Quintet presented by Denis Wick. I couldn't go see the show but from what I hear from the rest of the staff, it was an amazing show with lots of energy! Right now, the campers are enjoying a concert by Allen Vizzutti and Friends. I'm excited to hear the reactions to this concert as well. Allen Vizzutti was so impressive to watch on Monday, I'm sure he will be amazing tonight.
Until tomorrow!
6/28/2007
Today has been another busy day around the office.
I personally have been working on the programs for the upcoming concerts for Concert Band, Jazz Band, Orchestra and Percussion. I've also been running around campus today double checking and gathering information. It's another rainy day outside so all the day's activities have been pushed inside to the rain locations.
During lunch, the staff here at Music for All gets lunch from the buffet in the Prairie Room here at ISU. Although most of our staff has to grab food and run, some of us get to stick around for awhile and converse with the band directors and clinicians that eat there every day. It is really cool to see all the directors and clinicians in one spot. It's a great time to talk, trade ideas and meet new people. The few times that I have been able to steal away from the office for a couple of minutes, I've really enjoyed talking to the directors and clinicians about their week.
I did get a small break in my work day today just in time to catch the World Percussion Symposium's session with the Bluecoat's percussion. Both the percussion students and the drumline directors were in attendance. I was lucky to catch the end of this session "Digital Aerobics for the Modern Drumline with Michael McIntosh and Ray Ulibarri." I was there to see Michael McIntosh break it down and talk about the percussion part in the Bluecoat's show "Criminal." He talked about how the percussion score fit into the theme of the show and where some of his inspiration came from. The percussion played through multiple parts of their show. It was amazing, not to mention really fun to watch! While he was talking, Michael mentioned that all the visuals that the drumline did in the show were stolen from other corps! This is to keep with the theme of "Criminal." I thought that was such a cool idea and a great way to show respect for other corps!
6/29/2007
I've had a really great time today wandering around the camp.
After finishing the Saturday concert programs, I was free today to visit all sorts of sessions around campus.
First, I visited the Jazz Band Track for their Faculty Jam. This is a session the Jazz students have as a part of their daily curriculum. The faculty gets together and shows their jazz skills during the jam, rotating through solos and improvisations. It was really a treat to sit in and watch the clinicians play their instruments for the students. I especially enjoyed the last song, a rendition of "Night and Day."
Later, I stepped in on the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy. It was a little overwhelming to be in a session with over 600 people! The students were asked to listen to different tracks of music and break down the beats, measure and how best to conduct it. After they had identified all the answers, they began to conduct. They were doing some really difficult conducting, too! I was impressed with how well they handled multiple meter and more complex beats. They also covered how to give cues, conduct with syncopation and how to show dynamics in their conducting. It was fantastic to see all of the students practice and improve their conducting techniques!
Finally, I wandered into the stadium to watch the marching band students practice their drill for the upcoming show. They were breaking down sets and going over the corresponding music. After they understood where they were supposed to be on the field, they marched and played each sets. It looks like things are falling into place. It's really remarkable to see what they have accomplished seeing as they have been stuck inside for part of the week due to rain! The Bluecoats had just arrived when I was heading back to headquarters to practice with the students for tonight's show.
I wanted to make sure that I blogged about my day before heading out for the DCI show! I'll make sure to write about it tomorrow!
6/30/2007
Last night we were lucky enough to host a DCI show here at ISU.
The campers enjoyed a picnic outside the stadium before taking part in the full-camp picture. After the campers made their way into the stands, the marching band track students began the show with the National Anthem. It was a really exciting show and the energy of the campers made it even more so! Nine corps performed last night including: Memphis Sound, Colt Cadets, Pacific Crest, Colts, The Cavaliers, Spirit from JSU, Glassmen, Santa Clara Vanguard and Bluecoats. I really enjoyed watching each of the corps (this was my first DCI show of the season) and seeing the different themes of the shows. The Cavaliers were named the winners at the end of the night. After awards the Bluecoats came back out onto the field to perform their opener with the Marching Band Track students from the camp. It was great to see all the hard work pay off as the campers performed. They were all smiles as they headed off the field! It was a great night!
Today is officially the last day of the Music for All Summer Symposium. The campers had their final concerts, performances and most of them have left ISU to travel home. The Music for All staff has packed up headquarters and we are heading back to Indianapolis tomorrow after all the students are on their way. We have enjoyed 10 days here and would like to thank everyone that helped us make it happen. Thank you to all the ISU staff, Team SWAG, the nursing staff, National Presenting Sponsor, Yamaha Corporation of America; Official Sponsors, Wenger Corporation, SmartMusic and FJM, Inc.; Corporate Sponsor, Remo; Associate Sponsors, Vic Firth, Pearl, Denis Wick and Evans; our wonderful clinicians and others who made it possible for us to bring over 1600 campers to the Summer Symposium this year. We can only hope that your experience was as great as ours. The staff at Music for All can not wait to do it all again next year!
Sincerely,
Anna Donnelson
|
|
|
|
|
|