Summer Camp General Information
What’s SSA Summer Music Camp Like?
SSA Camp is a small and tightly-knit community. The many faculty members pay each student a lot of individual attention. Whether the camper is a fresh beginner or a high school student who is going to pursue a college degree in music, the SSA faculty will tailor a unique learning experience for each individual’s needs.
When SSA faculty members aren’t directly teaching they are often playing side-by-side with the campers during sectionals, orchestra rehearsals, and chamber music coachings so that the campers can also learn their instruments’ language through the experience of blending their sounds with very advanced players.
SSA Chamber Music Day Camp is a week-long intensive chamber music workshop for students of all levels held in Marquette, MI. SSA Camp Vivace and SSA Camp Presto are sleep-away camp sessions for middle school and high school students held at Fortune Lake Lutheran Camp in Crystal Falls, MI.
Each sleep-away camp session opens with a Faculty Recital and ends with a camper Final Concert that showcases the camper orchestra and chamber groups. Camp Vivace's Final Concert will also showcase Honors Solos (campers will have the option to audition on a prepared solo).
Most afternoons the campers take part in a music workshop that brings them outside of the classical music realm. Past workshops have included Playing with a Garage Band, How to Arrange Pop Music, Jazz Improv, Fiddling, Music Theory Games, Rhythm and Body Movement, Song-Writing, and more.
Between all the rehearsals, lessons, and practicing are many fun camp activities: writing cabin songs, swimming, playing field games, sitting around bonfires, performing in talent shows, and eating with the SSA crew during relaxing meal times. Everyone’s musicianship and personal development thrive in the infectiously positive energy that has become this camp’s trademark.
A Typical Day @ SSA Summer Music Camp
- 7:30 AM – Wake up
- 8 AM – Breakfast
- 8:45 AM – Clean and decorate cabins
- 9:30 AM – Orchestra Sectionals
- 10:45 AM – Orchestra Rehearsal
- 12 PM – Lunch
- 1 PM – Rest Time
- 2 PM – Field Games
- 3:15 PM – Private Lessons/Free Time/Swimming
- 4:30 PM – Chamber Music Coaching
- 6 PM – Dinner
- 7 PM – Orchestra Rehearsal
- 8 PM – Music Workshop, Talent Show, Performance
- 10:30 PM – Lights Out
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