Horse lover for Christ

Summer Choir Camp!

10:12 PM, Jul. 24, 2008 .. 0 comments .. Link

I meant to post about this yesterday but I forgot . Well, as you can tell from the title of the post we (my sisters and I) are doing a Choir Camp! The new church that we are attending is having their first annual Summer Choir Camp. It is a day camp that is 4 days long starting on Wednesday (yesterday) and goes on till Saturday, then on Sunday there is going to be an Evensong were we will sing the final product of our hard work! We are learning two songs to sing at the Evensong, they are "Magnificat" and "Nunc Dimittis" by Herbert Howells. I am so sorry that I don't have any pictures but there really isn't any time to take any so I will just have to try and explain it as best I can.

Day 1

On day one we started by registering and meeting the other campers (we already knew a few of them so it was really more like "greeting" the other campers). Then we went into the sanctuary (it is being held in a church) and started warming up then we started by singing the "Gloria Patri" at the end of the Magnificat (our director had the choir learn the music ahead of time). Then we collected our "dots"! Now I know that ya'll are thinking to yourselves "What on earth are "dots" supposed to mean?" Now I will explain so you will not be wondering what "dots are for the rest of you life! Dot's are kind of like points and the person with the most "dots" at the end of the day gets a little prize! You can earn dots by answering questions correctly or volunteering to demonstrate a part in the song that the choir is having trouble with. And, one very important thing, there are two "Tracks" at camp, track one is ages 11 and down and track two are kids 11 and up. At the end of camp the person with the most dot's from track one will get a "Snazzy CD" as the director put it, and the person with the most dot's from track two will also get a CD. So now that you know all that I will go on with what we did on day 1!

After singing we got to watch a movie about the choir at King's College in Cambridge, England. It was very interesting and at one point all the young boys who were in between eight and nine years old were wearing "Top hats", they were really cute! Then we got to have another singing session, got more dots, then we got ready to go to the park for lunch! Not much happened over lunch, but after lunch we played a game of soccer. It was my very first time to play soccer so I wasn't really good. So after the team that I was on lost by one point we went back to the church to have a history lesson on the Evensong! Both tracks split and went to different rooms. The younger children learned about Thomas Cranmer and the older children learned about Liturgy! I might have to post my notes from the history lesson but for now I will finish day one! The last thing we did for the day was..... Sing! Then we went home. Day one was finished and all we had to do was wait for the next day to come!

Day 2

Well, day two came and we had to be at the church at 9:00 so we left at 8:35. When we arrived at the church we were the first one's there! So I suggested that we listen to a CD that I had brought but instead we turned the radio on and it just so happened to be on a station that was playing Mariachi band music! After waiting for a very long two minutes another family and the director showed up and gradually everyone else came and so we started! We warmed up and sang more of the Magnificat, then the tracks split and we got to do some technique! Then we did more singing and left for the park. After lunch we played soccer again, but this time the team I was on won! Then we went back to the church for our history lesson. The younger children learned about the Evensong and about "Order Matters" (don't ask me what that is), and the older children learned about the Medieval Liturgy of the Hours. I will post all my notes from these sessions on the last day. Then we sang and went home!

I will post tomorrow (I hope) about what we do on day 3!