South Island Suzuki
Summer camp
14-19 January 2025
Tuesday
This morning my family and I drove from Christchurch, where we had been staying, down to Oamaru for the start of this year's summercamp. It's being held at Waitaki Boys' High again. Waitaki Boys' is a boarding school so people can either stay in the dorms or bring their own tents. We're not a camping family so we always stay in the dorms. We set up some keyboards in the auditorium for the piano students and helped set up the registration desk because I'm on the committee.
At 2pm people started arriving for registration. They picked up their lanyards and set up their accommodation.
At 5:30pm we had the provided dinner in the dining room, spaghetti bolognaise. At 6:30pm was the play-in, led by Katie (a different Katie!). At one point she had the violin children playing with the violins on their heads, and the cellos playing lying down, looked like fun!
Piano has been a very minor instrument for the last few years and there are only 4 students enrolled this year. Of those 4, only 2 were at play-in. In the photo you can see the 2 students and me playing a few pieces.
Wednesday
First day of classes. Students have three 1-hr classes each day: a masterclass session (consisting of 2-4 short individual lessons), a Suzuki group class and a third class that varies by level. The younger kids have Music Enrichment, which is songs and games to music. Children in books 3 and up have String Ensemble.
In the morning I had the piano book 1 masterclass (2 students) and the piano book 2 masterclass (also 2 students). In the masterclasses, each student had an individual lesson then we did some playing together to prepare for the play-out concert on Sunday.
The weather isn't warm enough for me to swim, but I could hear the sounds of happy kids playing in the swimming pool!
After lunch was the first junior individual concert and I took a string ensemble class. Most previous years there have been two levels of orchestra but this year they're trying 3 levels of string ensemble instead. I'm taking the junior level which is about 12 book 3-4 students plus a few parents. Today I played violin along with the students but really decided that the group doesn't stay together very well that way and I really need to conduct. I'll try that tomorrow!
After dinner today will be the parent-talk by Katie Betts and 3 entertainment options for the kids: a movie for the younger ones, board games for the tweenagers and a something for the teens too.
Thursday
Second day of classes. Everyone is in the swing of camp now. In the piano masterclasses we did a lot of concert preparation because all the kids play an individual concert during camp and some of the kids are rostered on for today. Juniors play in the afternoon and seniors in the evening. The auditorium is in use most of the time but we managed to find a time for the piano kids to practice their solo pieces on the auditorium piano so that they are better prepared for their concerts.
We also found time for the piano kids to play a bit more on the keyboards in the auditorium. The keyboards aren't great in that they have very floppy (unweighted) keys and no touch sensitivity. This means that when you press a key gently, the sound still comes out at full volume, which is a bit disconcerting! Anyway, it enables the piano kids to have a keyboard each and to be involved in the group concerts and that is fun. Maybe in the future, the South Island Suzuki group can buy a class set of reasonable quality digital pianos to use at events like this.
The string ensemble stayed together a bit better today, with me conducting instead of playing. Most of the students are not used to following a conductor though, so its still a challenge! I got them all conducting while I played twinkle then I conducted while they played twinkle. I varied the speed to go fast and slow and they sort of followed. We'll work on that again tomorrow!
Two of the piano kids played their individual pieces in the concerts today and both played very well.
Friday
Third day of classes.
The other two piano children played their solo concerts today and this evening was the last of the solo concerts for camp. All the kids do so well to stand up on stage by themself and perform a piece.
The string ensemble is starting to come together thank goodness! We need to perform something in the play-out concert and we now have a couple of rounds that sound quite good. We could also play Cripple Creek if we can get it to hold together with two more rehearsals but its not ready yet.
Saturday
4th day of classes.
The ensemble is getting better every day and Cripple Creek is sounding OK now so we'll play it in the concert tomorrow.
This afternoon was the concerto concert, where the tutors form a small string orchestra to accompany all the students who can play the concertos. As well as the various violin concertos, it was lovely to hear the deeper and more rich tone of the violas playing their concerto.
This evening was the fun concert. This is a highlight every year! It's for skits and (non-Suzuki) musical performances. The tutors often end up doing silly things on stage and this year various items had tutors singing, dancing, rapping and performing a magic trick. My son performed a piece on the erhu (Chinese violin) and our family performed "Come What May" with me on piano, my son on violin and my husband and daughter singing.
Sunday
5th and final day of classes.
In between morning classes we packed up our dorm rooms and got ready for the play-out concert at 2pm. Everyone was in their black-and-whites. The ensembles played first, then each instrument group by itself (violins, violas, cellos, pianos). Then everyone went on stage to play a twinkle. We played in D so that all the instruments could play together. To end the concert, the kids who did Musical Enrichment sang a goodbye song and thank-you cards were given to each tutor. The kids and parents have written little messages in the cards so they are very special.
Camp is over for another year. It was nice that covid didn't make an appearance! Everyone said goodbye and see you next year and headed off home.