GIYO's summer strings camp returns
Jun. 25—Maddie Morgan, a rising senior at Frederica Academy, vividly recalls one of the first times she heard a professional cello player perform in person.
"I heard, like, real playing in front of me for the first time, and I thought, 'Wow, I want to be able to play like that,'" said Morgan, one of several local high school students interning this week at the Golden Isles Youth Orchestra's summer camp.
The camp brings young musicians ranging in age from rising fourth-graders to rising high school seniors to Frederica Academy's campus for a week of private lessons, small ensemble rehearsals and group performances. The camp will culminate today in a private performance on campus for the families of the students.
"They're learning a lot," said Todd Lockwood, GIYO's symphonette music director, during camp on Thursday. "It's pretty intense. They're playing a lot every day, which is not so normal for them. They really play basically for about three hours in the morning, and then they have a little bit of a break, and then they have about three hours in the afternoon. So it's a lot of playing."
Professional musicians serve as instructors, and some drive in daily from outside the area to participate in the program.
Last year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, GIYO could not hold its annual summer camp programs. The pandemic also disrupted the music education of many students, some of whom saw their music programs at school cut or diminished due to concerns about spreading the virus.
Campers this week wore masks, but Lockwood said it was great to be back in person. Music lessons, especially for younger learners, can be challenging in a virtual format, he said.
"All those things that you weren't able to address online over the last year, we can start to address again, start to get caught back up again and ready for next fall," he said.
The students were scattered daily throughout Frederica's Academy Corn Hall, performing music or studying theory in the classrooms and media center.
Eleanor Dobson, a rising seventh grader who plays the cello, expressed her excitement to be among fellow musicians, many of whom she said she could learn from.
"In the school orchestra, we're split up into grades, so my friend and I were the only cellos," she said. "We were both working on the same level, and I think it's just a great opportunity to be around people that are more experienced with the instrument that I chose."
Landon Jackson, a rising freshman, said the camp provides vital group performance opportunities. Jackson, like Dobson, was introduced to music education through a GIYO program at his school. He became involved in the youth orchestra through a String-On program at St. Francis Xavier Catholic School that introduces fifth-graders to the violin.
"Eventually, I joined symphonette and I just kept going from there," he said.
The camp's interns, many of whom play in the full youth orchestra, said they gained leadership experience this week.
"I'm the first chair of my section, so I have to teach my section too," said Ansley Franklin, a rising senior at Glynn Academy. "This is a good experience ."
Summer programs like this can help prevent student musicians from losing some of the skills they develop throughout the school year, said Marquavious Stanley, an intern at the camp and a rising senior at GA.
"If these camps weren't here, a lot of kids just would not play during the summer at all," he said. "They'd lose what they learned while in school."
The summer practice is crucial to a young musician's development, Lockwood said. And music education can improve a student's overall academic performance as well.
"There's been lots of studies about how music helps them through their whole education, and it teaches them how to break things down and how to think critically," he said. "... It teaches them discipline. They have to manage their time. There's just so many benefits that we've seen from kids who do music compared to those who don't."
JoAnn Davis, who recently retired from her long-held leadership position with GIYO, came back this week to help organize the camp. The summer program, she said, aims to advance performance skills and allow students to learn from professional musicians.
"Often kids will talk about what it meant when they first saw somebody really good play their instrument," she said.
Aly Glover, a rising fourth-grader and one of the youngest participants in the camp, said she's looking forward to today's final performance, when she will show her parents all she's learned this week.
The show will only be open to the families of the campers, but Glover had high expectations for the turnout.
"We're going to play in front of millions of people," she said.
