By MAGGIE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
Summer is a great time for kids to take a break from studies and spend time on the things they love. For example, things like music.
To make this easier, the Lake Mead Baptist Church is once again sponsoring a free music camp for all music-loving kids to help them keep up their skills over the summer break, all while getting some real-life experience preparing for a concert.
The camp will be held at the church running June 26-30. Instrumental camp and choir camp for elementary-aged students will be held daily from 9 am to 1 pm. Following a short break, choir camp for middle school and high school students will then run from 1:30 to 3 pm.
The instrumental camp will be a symphonic orchestra and all band and orchestra students with at least one year of experience are invited to participate. Lunch will be provided free of charge to those attending the morning session every day.
The camp will be instructed by several distinguished guest conductors. Adam Howard from Greenville, South Carolina, will be the camp director. He has been working with choirs and orchestras for the past fifteen years and is currently pursuing two Masters of Church Music degrees in choral and orchestral conducting and vocal performance. He has also performed with several groups in concert halls across the southeast.
Mr. Michael Lutz will be the camp guest orchestral conductor. Mr. Lutz is originally from Ohio, but currently lives in Savannah, Georgia. He has over 37 years of experience teaching music in middle and high schools, including 19 years as director of bands. He has also served in the music programs of many churches.
The guest camp choral conductor will be Ms. Cynthia Dooley, also from Savannah, Georgia. She is a retired elementary school music teacher. During her career, her students performed with the National Children’s Choir at Carnegie Hall, among other noted places. She has been actively involved with the American Orff Schulwerk Association and the Georgia Music Educator Association, as well as the music ministry of several churches.
The camp is a great chance for students to learn and grow in musical ability.
“Mainly it is an incentive week,” said Pastor Scott Adams of the Lake Mead Baptist church. “These kids throw an entire concert together in just one week. It puts them under a little pressure, which is good because anytime they are under a little pressure, it causes them to excel in their craft.”
Camp attendees will practice with the guest conductors and then present a concert for the public at Old Logandale School on June 30 at 7 pm.
Although the camp itself is free, the concert serves as a fundraiser for local music programs.
“We want the camp to be a blessing to the kids musically, but we also want it to help out the local school music programs,” Adams said.
He explained that all donations collected at the concert will be given to the local school music programs to be split between them.
In addition to lunch everyday, camp attendees will also receive a goodie bag and a camp T-shirt. Pre-registration is required as early as possible to make sure each camper is able to receive a shirt in the correct size and the correct music for their instrument in time for camp.
Pre-registration is open now online by going to the website at: www.lakemeadbaptist.org and clicking on the summer music camp tab at the top right of the page.
