Explore Music! Camp Brings Classical Music To Younger Generation

The Lakes Area Music Festival starts their season this weekend and with it their sixth annual Explore Music! camp has been going on this week. The day camp takes place at the Washington Educational Services Building and goes until Friday.

Tornstrom Auditorium was alive with music this week as students took part in Explore Music! a day camp that is an extension of the family concert the Lakes Area Music Festival puts on every year.

“It wasn’t enough to sort of just provide a musical excerpt, ‘this is what you’re about to hear, okay now we’re going to play it.’ It wasn’t really engaging enough for the families and so what we thought about doing was sort of deconstructing the repertoire from the family concert and instead let’s create a camp for five days before the kids even come to hear that music,” said Explore Music! Camp Director Alexander Peña. “Have them explore the repertoire, explore the composers, explore the music, explore just what an orchestra is, what a concert is.”

Throughout the week the campers studied music and arts in many different forms. They sang, danced, played instruments, and exercised their creativity through guided improvisation.

“When we come in in the morning there’s some sort of activity they’re doing together. For instance, this morning they were making instruments. On Friday they are going to be making these musical masterpieces all around the room and then we go into chorus where we do some singing and work on the repertoire for our informance,” explained Christiana Shorter, Teaching Artist at Explore Music!

The students will share what they learned this week as part of a special performance during the Lakes Area Music Festival at the family concert.

This is the sixth year of the camp and it has been growing in popularity every year.

“I did it last year and it was really fun and all my friends do it and I know a lot of people here and I have a lot of fun here,” said Juno who is a camper at Explore Music!

“It’s fun and I get to make new friends,” Brennan, another camper said.

The Lakes Area Music Festival started the camp with the hope of reaching a younger demographic, but they also wanted to reach kids who might not normally have the opportunity to experience music and the arts.

“It has been really lovely to see how people come from as far as an hour away every morning to come to this and keep coming every single year,” Shorter added.

“The Lakes Area Music Festival brings over a hundred musicians to this area every summer. It’s just a huge, it’s just a wealth and a resource of artistry and just humanity and to connect that with kids and families that live here in this community is so important,” Peña explained. “It’s just our privilege to do so.”

The Lakes Area Music Festival is offering a brand new camp this year called Explore Performance! The camp starts next week and there is still time to sign up. For more information visit www.lakesareamusic.org.