All-State Choir Camp

Choir camp was a tiring but very entertaining experience. This was my third year to work the camp as a counselor, so I pretty much knew what to expect. We had a staff meeting at 10am on Tuesday and the kids began checking in at 2pm that afternoon. Then it was off to the races!

As part of the registration process, we pretest the campers on sightreading if they choose, with the opportunity for them to test out of the sightreading session later on in the week if they do well. This is always interesting, because sightreading is one of the biggest fears and challenges in the all-state process. Well, we test them and record them on minidisc players, and then go back and grade them later on. Some of the kids are amazing... some of them... eh... not so much.

We counselors get together and listen to eachother's recordings and they can range from the amazing to absurd, hilarious and heart-breaking. It's sad to listen to a high schooler almost bust into tears over a silly eight measures of music.

We had one girl who at the end of her recording said,
"*sigh*... I'm done... I lose..." in one of the saddest voices I have ever heard!!

And of course there are those who simply wander and weave on any note and rhythm and syllable until somehow they decide they have reached the end of the line.

That was the beginning of camp, and things only got more hilarious. All the campers are given nametags that are to be worn at all times outside of their immediate halls in the dorms. This is done for identification obviously, not just their name, but as one of our campers amidst the other church, debate, and athletic camps taking place on campus at the same time. So the first day is always a lot of reminding the campers to remember their nametag and wear it like they're supposed to. The guy counselors were sitting on the couches in the dorms watching the campers head out to one of their rehearsals and one of them took it upon himself to yell at the kids without nametags, not because he is a nametag nazi, but because he likes to scare the campers on the first day.

Anyway, so this stream of campers were heading out of the dorm and you just hear... "Nametag!... Nametag!... Hey, nametag! NAMETAG!... uh... Is that even our kid!?!?"
It was hilarious to be sure.

The first day was crazy, I had to take care of a camper who almost broke his nose - that was an ordeal - and we were supposed to have an ice cream social after the last rehearsal that night. However, lovely Aramark decided to deliver the ice cream over an hour early and just leave it sitting outside - so we had to flip flop the ice cream and the last rehearsal, or risk drinking our ice cream social. Have you ever tried to give just over 300 high schoolers ice cream and free time and then pack them all shoulder to shoulder on a stage and try to get them to sing? Yeah... I'm sure you can imagine how that went over.

Every year it is always interesting to see what kinds of personalities we get in the dorms. There are always little incoming freshmen tenors whose voices haven't changed, and who haven't seen a day of high school yet. You always do a double take when walking down the hall of a dorm at 2am listening for voices - because you always think there's a girl in one of the rooms, and then you realize it's just one of those tiny tenors! Well, these young'uns are as equally aloof. I had one camper, Logan, who managed to always forget his nametag, locked himself out of his room 7-8 times, and freaked out about a cockroach in his room because his grandmother had once told him that if you touch a cockroach, "...the germs will get inside of you and you will die!" And he was serious!! We had campers forget their nametag, lose their cell phones, forget their music, lose their meal card, forget their purses, drop their meal card underneath the strings of a grand piano and, my favorite, drop a room key down through the grate on an airconditioning vent on the floor of a rehearsal room.

You know, I really like to see guys who have a healthy respect for females, Lord knows I do. I think girls should be given all the courtesies and respect, and be defended and fought for. But... I have to tell you... I get a little worried when I walk down the hall and overhear a high schooler through a door saying, "Allison.... Allison is God!!... She's soooo nice!"

The guy counselors - especially one - make a point each year to see how much we can get the campers to do for us. You know, it starts out in Penland with - "hey, while you're up, would you get me a refill of Dr. Pepper" - but quickly progresses to - "Hey, would you get me some cobbler?" or "Would you get me some ice cream?" Later it moves on to - "Hey would you go to the coke machine and buy me a Dr. Pepper?" and I mean, not, "Here's 60 cents, would you buy me a Dr. Pepper?" I seriously mean - would you go dig in your pocket and buy me a Dr. Pepper!! After the first day and a half or so, they just ask if we want anything when they go to the convenience store! They buy us chips, drinks, candy... it's pretty much amazing - but it get really funny when it gets to - "Hey! Ya'll are ordering us pizza tonight." and "Hey - here's my keys, would you take my stuff out to my car" at the end of camp. I guess it kind of is a quid pro quo deal though - we are a lot more relaxed on the guys around the dorms and concerning light out and such, since they willingly serve us during the week!

Well, anyway - there's a ton more to be said about camp but I think I'll leave my writing on that note. I was lucky to be in bed by 3:45 and had to be up by 6:50 so it made for a week of yawns, sugary snacks and Starbucks in the mornings. I managed to sleep through church on Sunday (I set my alarm for 9am and woke up at 12:10!) but I suppose I probably needed the sleep.