Your future, our focus
POWELL, Wyo. - Students and adult musicians still have time to apply for scholarships to the 2013 Northwest College summer music camps.
The camp season gets underway Sunday-Friday, June 16-21, with the 23rd annual Yellowstone Summer Music Camp (YSMC) for middle and high school band and choir musicians. The YSMC attracts students each year from across six states, including Wyoming and Montana, to the NWC campus in Powell.
The 26th annual Yellowstone Jazz Camp for high school and adult musicians kicks into gear Sunday-Friday, July 7-12, at the college’s Mickelson Field Station near Sunlight Basin.
Both camps offer scholarships, some of which are given on a first-come, first-served basis, so early applicants have the best chance of reducing their camp costs.
Students selected by audition to their state’s honor band, orchestra or choir can claim substantial scholarships to the YSMC on a limited basis per instrument and voice range. Students entering their senior year of high school are automatically eligible for $200 YSMC scholarships, regardless of music ratings or date of application. In addition, middle school and high school musicians who received division II solo awards or division I small ensemble awards this spring automatically receive $130 scholarships to the YSMC, while division I solo awards are worth $150.
Campers at the June Yellowstone Summer Music Camp spend six days on the NWC campus with music instructors drawn from across the United States in concert band, jazz band, choir and select choir ensemble studies. The YSMC student recital is Thursday, June 20, at 7 p.m., followed by the final concert Friday, June 21, at 3 p.m.
Private lessons are available in voice, piano, percussion, guitar and all band instruments. Campers are also invited to enroll in special interest classes like music theory, computer composing, reedmaking/adjusting, jazz improvisation, sound production, hand bell ringing, graphic design, fun and fitness, leadership, chess, sectionals and small ensembles.
At the July camp in the Beartooth Mountains, the focus is strictly jazz and geared to high school and adult musicians. Scholarships to the July jazz camp can be earned three ways. Students who were selected to their states’ all-state jazz honor band by audition are eligible for $245 scholarships and higher on a limited basis per instrument.
Students who were awarded outstanding musician certificates at either the Northwest Jazz Festival in Powell, the Mile High Jazz Festival in Denver, Colo., or the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival in Colorado can cash them in for scholarships. Instrumentalists can also apply for scholarships by submitting recorded audition material.
The jazz camp offers daily instruction in theory, improvisation, composition, arranging, plus opportunities for private lessons, master classes and multiple performance venues. Students will participate in one of three big bands and one of six jazz combos. Their final concert is at 2:30 p.m. Friday, July 12, at Washington Park in Powell. Maegan Ley is this year’s jazz camp director.
Founded 26 years ago by NWC director of bands Neil Hansen, the camp has attracted high school and adult musicians from as far away as Germany, New York, California, Florida, Arizona, South Dakota, Colorado and Utah, in addition to Montana and Wyoming. Hansen will retire this year following a 31-year stint at Northwest and over four decades as a music educator.
Total tuition, room and board for the jazz camp is $615. Full tuition, room and board at the Yellowstone Summer Music Camp is $495, or $325 for commuters who pay tuition only.
More information about the camps (including application forms, scholarship applications and camp schedules), is available online or by calling camp director Tim Schoessler at 800-560-4692, ext. 6112, or 307-754-6112; or camp secretary Krystal Shaffer at 307-754-6245.