It has been an exciting summer at CMS! Dozens of students participated in a variety of introductory summer camps in piano, ukulele, violin, and recording technology. On June 21, we celebrated Make Music Day with our new Music Explorers Camp. Campers had a full day “musical instrument petting zoo” of fun and learning on keyboards, drums, Flutophones, violins, ukuleles, and guitars. Check out highlights of Music Explorers! Teens in our Music & Film camp spent two weeks in the CMS recording studio as they filmed, edited, and scored their own short films to enter into the 2024 Allentown Film Festival. Our Build-Your-Own Ukulele Camp students created their own ukuleles to play and take home at the end of the week. They designed, painted, assembled, strung, and tuned their own instruments, and then played them in their end-of-camp performance. Check out highlights of the BYO Uke Camp! Intro to Violin and Intro to Piano students also had fun weeks learning the basics of their instruments and performing for their families at the end of camp. Now, August wraps up the summer season with a “full house” for our new Intro to Ukulele Workshop at CMS Berks.
In the community, we continued our 20+ year partnership with the other downtown arts organizations to produce the week-long City Arts Camp for elementary and middle school students. The City Arts showcase performance at Miller Symphony Hall: “The 1960s: Peace, Love, & Hope” featured performances of music on Flutophone, ukulele, violin, and voice, along with dance, theater, and displays of the students’ visual art projects. Under the direction of CMS teachers Chris Klump, ukulele, and Elaine Martin, Flutophone, the students performed several classics, including “If I Had a Hammer,” by Peter, Paul, and Mary and “We Shall Overcome” by the Rev. Charles Tindley – – and a favorite selection sung by Pete Seeger, and the John Denver hit “Blowin’ in the Wind”. Check out highlights of the City Arts Camp showcase performance here. City Arts Camp is a collaborative program presented by the Allentown Art Museum, the Allentown Symphony Association, The Baum School of Art, Civic Theatre of Allentown, Community Music School, and Repertory Dance Theatre. Campers participate in activities and classes at various downtown arts venues, all led by professional staff from each organization. Providing exposure to the worlds of art, dance, theater, and music, the week-long camp culminates with a showcase performance and reception for all participants and parents.
We also led a 6-week Summer Explorations Program, to bring general music and ukulele lessons to students at ASD’s Brigadier General Anna Mae Hays Elementary School. Our musical instrument petting zoo was on hand at the Hays Elementary Year-End Carnival in June, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s Community Day in July, and Allentown’s National Night Out in August.
We send special thanks to all our dedicated summer camp teachers: Kelly Hooper, piano/Program Coordinator; Carolyn Gaul, violin; Daniel Gonzalez, drums; Elaine Martin, flute/Flutophone; Chris Klump, guitar/ukulele; Abigail Zuckert, ukulele; Joe Wagner, guitar/recording; Mikaela Krall, ukulele. We also thank CMS students Ty’lei Singleton, who served as a City Arts Camp counselor, and Ceiran Magee, who served as a “counselor-in-training” for several camps and petting zoos this summer.
We appreciate all our students and families who choose to make music at CMS as a part of their summer. We are looking forward to the “back to school” season and a fun year of new classes, workshops, and performance opportunities for our students!
