Kids Mountain Music Camp

McCall Folklore Society

Kids Mountain Music Camp (KMMC) is a three day music and singing workshop in McCall that culminates in a performance at local’s night at the Summer Music Festival

During the 3 days (10am-3:30pm) 43 children ages 8-17 learned basic music skills and history of American folk music with emphasis on Folk, Bluegrass, and Old Time music. Classes covered many instruments including mandolin, guitar, fiddle, banjo, bass, singing, and more.

The daily schedule was divided into blocks punctuated by all-campus activities at the start and end of the day in which students get to meet and interact with their fellow campers, doing activities such as jamming, sing-a-longs, and band performance workshops lead by the teachers. Family members were welcome and encouraged to attend Morning Activities.

Students were divided by age/ability and instrument into groups for the blocks. Campers had the opportunity to not only take classes in the instrument that they are currently studying, but also to try new instruments

The Essential Question that guided our projects’ focus was:

How do musicians improve the quality of their performance?

Using the culminating performance at the Summer Music Festival as a goal, participants worked on refining their skills for this performance, planned their performance numbers and received feedback throughout the camp to do so.

At the conclusion of the project, students responded to questions related to the identified Standards:

Milo P. responded: I kept what we were going to perform a secret from my parents so they would be surprised. We worked on our performance for the entire camp. We got to choose the song we performed at the Summer Music Festival and the name of our band. I went from being a beginner to a more advance guitar player during camp.

Impact

Here are student reflections that demonstrate the impact (written just prior to performing at the Summer Music Festival):

“There are two things I really loved about music camp. First, I love song writing class. I can’t wait to perform our song! That brings me to my second topic. Our song is me, Kingsley, Nina, Elaina plus KC (instructor) but she says its more our song than hers. Kingsley, Elaina and Nina have become my best friends here in camp. So those are my two things I love about the Kids Mountain Music Camp.”

Vivian

“I loved music camp. I t has been my favorite experience this year. The instructors are awesome and the location is great. ”

“Having fun and learning a new instrument but most of all learning that I can play in a more advanced violin or fiddle class!

Tyla

Reflection

From a parent:

“I’ve been volunteering for the Kids Mountain Music Camp for the past four years and I have to say, my kids look forward to attending every year. They absolutely love it!”

As this camp has grown from a handful of kids to 43 campers this year, it’s a joy to walk around the McCall Field Campus and hear music, singing and laughter. These kids get the invaluable experience of learning from talented instructors who are also professional musicians. They get the experience of jamming, which often they’ve never done and the opportunity to perform at a music festival. This camp may only be three days but it packs a powerful, positive wallop in that short time.