Highlight: Music Camp Resources for Your Summer Camps

Greetings!

As part of our 10-year blogiversary celebration, I’d like to continue our series giving you a tour through the resources currently available in my shop. Today, we will be taking a look at the music camp resources. If you are thinking about offering a music camp this summer (or ANY time of year) but aren’t sure how to get started, this post is for you! Don’t forget — everything in my shop is 20% off through the end of February 2019 if you use the promo code 10YEARS!

#1: Camp: So, You Want To Be A Composer?

“So, You Want To Be A Composer?” is a fun, creative camp designed to inspire and equip your students to compose their own pieces of music! Students will leave camp knowing how to make a piece of music reflect its title, use motives, organize a piece using a form, and much more.  This camp is full of music listening, music making, and music composing.  

When I offer composition camps, my goal is for each student to leave camp with one completed, illustrated composition. Students handwrite their pieces on staff paper, plus I also professionally notate the piece for them using the Finale program on my computer.

The lesson plans (21 pages) for this camp clearly outline each day’s activities, including instructions for making a musical instrument each day. Also included is the “Elements of a Great Composition” workbook (16 pages) for you to print for each, covering topics like motives/themes, form, accompaniment styles, and proper notation. There are also six “Quick Composition” activities, staff paper, and more.

I’ve offered composition camps for my students three times so far. It’s something I keep going back to! Learn more about the “So, You Want To Be A Composer” camp here.

#2: Composition & Improvisation Prompts for Piano

“Prompts for Piano” is an e-book designed to provide an easy way for teachers to guide beginner and elementary students through composition or improvisation. This resource is GREAT to pair with the camp plans discussed above, or to use during private/group lessons with your students throughout the year.

“Prompts for Piano” is designed to provide solutions for some of the challenges surrounding helping your students compose. Each of the 20 prompts provides a topic idea accompanied by a brief written description and an image, intended to help inspire the student and generate enthusiasm for the project.

The “goals” listed on the prompt are intended to help the student successfully create a piece that will sound like the topic they have chosen. For example, for a piece about rain, students might be encouraged to use staccato sounds.

The complete set includes a total of 20 prompts. Have you ever thought about doing a summer composition project, or holding a composition recital with your students?  Using these prompts can help make sure that your students choose varied topics during a studio-wide composition project.

FREEBIE ALERT: Download a sample of one of the prompts below.

  Composition/Improv Prompt - Free Sample (102.8 KiB, 17,630 hits)

TESTIMONIAL:

“My students and I have been using this set of prompts with amazing success this summer. I love the goals and the prompts. I have three students who have already completed their first composition and they are over the moon with excitement at what they have accomplished. I never imagined I would be able to guide them through this process so easily.” — Heather Best, piano teacher

Learn more about my Composition & Improvisation Prompts for Piano here. Also, check out this blog post where I talk more about how I help my students compose their own pieces.

#3: Music of the World Camp Curriculum

The goal of the “Music of the World” camp is to increase the students’ awareness of and appreciation for cultures that are different from their own – through experiencing the music and studying the instruments of other countries.  Students will have a blast hearing the music from other cultures and learning about each counties’ musical instruments, landmarks, and animals.

Each day of camp, students travel to a different country around the world — and collect stamps in their passports to prove it!

• Day 1: Australia – Students will learn about the Aboriginal people and a few of their musical instruments.  They will also make their own didgeridoo, which is one of the oldest instruments in the world!
• Day 2: China – Students will learn about ancient Chinese culture and make their own gong.
• Day 3: Ghana – Students will learn about the drum ensembles that are popular throughout West Africa and make their own drum.
• Day 4: Peru – Students will learn about the Andean people and make their own panpipes.

Learn more about the Music of the World camp curriculum here.

#4: Great Composers & Their Music curriculum

I highlighted this music history curriculum in a blog post earlier this month, so I won’t talk about it at length again here — but I didn’t want to leave it out of this camp curriculum list! It’s a great option to consider. I offer a music history camp for my students using this curriculum nearly every summer.

One of my goals when I offer a music history camp is to enable students be able to make a reasonable guess as to which style period (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, or 20th/21st Century) a piece originates based on what they hear in the music.

Learn more about the Great Composers & Their Music curriculum here.

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I hope this has gotten your creative juices flowing regarding music camps you could offer your students! Now’s the perfect time to start planning.

What are your questions about running music camps? Let me know in the comments below, and I’ll do my best to answer them!

The end of February is just around the corner! Don’t forget to shop the sale here.