During the summers in middle and high school, I always looked most forward to the variety of music camps fortunately available to me. Summer music camps were not only a way for me to enhance my craft, but also a way for me to meet other disciplined musicians from all over the country. This summer 2020, all types of camps have had to be adapted to various new formats because of the Covid-19 pandemic. From my research, and my own experience attending various music camps, I can sincerely say that music is one of the hardest fields to be in without working in-person with other musicians. Similarly, the other more “hands-on” fields like dance, science, and theater are also extremely difficult to try to adapt to an online environment.
One of my personal favorite summer camps, Cannon Music Camp, held at Appalachian State University, has adapted their in-person three week program to a threefold online music enrichment camp. All of the online classes are now being offered at more affordable prices, which is key to continuing a decent sized enrollment. The first option, offered at $275.00, is a choice to enroll in as many or as few classes offered out of 20 online enrichment classes. The second option is a bit cheaper ($140.00), and includes three private lessons and three masterclasses. The last option is a mix of private lessons, masterclasses, and online enrichment classes (at $415.00) Although Cannon Music Camp definitely lowered their prices for the summer courses, their online camper enrollment is significantly lower than it has been in previous years.
I also attended Brevard Music Institute in 2017 for classical voice, and that whole summer music festival for 2020 has been completely canceled. Brevard Music Festival also hosts musicians from all over the country and globe, so they had a lot more at risk if they were to attempt to hold the festival in person.
Another music camp—one that I have never personally attended—at the University of Kansas Midwestern—has also moved their camp online, and they have also made the camp free of charge. It is unclear as to whether or not there were more student enrollments because of the fact that the camp was made free. On the other hand, younger students may now have more free time during quarantine to enroll in a music camp. According to an article about this music camp from the University of Kansas’ website, this year “The camp brought together 1,930 virtual students, KU School of Music faculty and special guest artists, including Imani Pressley, George Shelby, Kat Rodriguez and Mads Tolling.”
The article entitled “Summer camps go socially distant, both online and in person, as the coronavirus continues” from the Patriot News in PA, focused on some of Pennsylvania’s summer camps that are no longer continuing and those that are. Some non-music camps have continued, albeit with extreme precaution. A sport camp that is managing to continue in person said within their eight-page document that they “Laid out how both staff and campers would take daily temperature checks, maintaining separate groups of campers with 10 students to each instructor, and ensuring that those groups didn’t co-mingle during the day.” However, even with all of these restrictions, the enrollment for this camp was not very high because a lot of families just don’t feel comfortable sending their children to this hybrid in-person camp while the Coronavirus cases keep increasing. As I said earlier, camps in the music field are some of the hardest camps to continue safely in person or to successfully adapt to an online platform. In the Patriot News article, professor at Elizabethtown College, Grant Moore said, “It’s possible [to put on a musical performance] virtually, but it takes way more production time than we can do in one week, “So there won’t be any performance.”
With all of these summer music camps being adapted in various ways, children and teenagers more than ever will have to find their own motivation to practice and play their music. Music conservatories and colleges will also ultimately have to ease their qualifications for high school resumes, given that many high schoolers may choose not to participate in these hybrid music camps.
I personally may have not chosen to pursue music if it hadn’t been for my positive and intense experiences at music camps like Cannon Music Camp and Brevard Music Institute. I can only hope that some of these online adaptations of music camps will be able to suffice for now.
https://www.brevardmusic.org/about/coronavirus/
https://today.ku.edu/ku-virtual-midwestern-music-camp-big-success-campers-and-parents
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/cnn-underscored/online-summer-camps-classes/index.html
