Building Future Prodigies?
Town's Music Workshop Celebrates 41st Year
by Judy Silberstein
(July 30, 2003) For 41 years local children as young as
6 have been schlepping violins, cellos, guitars, flutes,
trombones,
trumpets,
drumsticks
and a host of other musical instruments to the Town Summer
Music Workshop. These young musicians may be taking their
first steps towards making great music - or merely their
first steps in appreciating great music. Either way, the
goals of the program will be met.
This year the musicians
are at Central School – other
years they’re at another Mamaroneck
School campus. They
move
from year to year to keep out of the way of the district's
roving band of building renovators.
 When
compared to pricey private programs, the workshop is
a roaring bargain, thanks to a collaborative arrangement
between
the Town and the schools. The Town administers the program,
but the Mamaroneck School District provides the space
and the instruments for a nominal fee. There are even “camperships” from
the Town for students whose families can’t afford the
tuition. “There
are few communities where the school and the towns work so
well,” said Director Tim Hooker, who directs the Mamaroneck
High School Band during the rest of the year.
Weather plays a role – some years it’s so hot,
the musicians and their instruments wilt. This Wednesday,
a resourceful guitar teacher had the kids strumming in the
cool grass under a leafy tree.
 |
 Despite
the casual summer attire, many of the staff are serious
professional musicians with
many years of performance or teaching under their belts.
Rich Williams, the brass instructor and
professionali trombonist, has been with the summer
workshop for 31 years. He was a student for two years,
a volunteer
teacher for another two, and then joined the staff
at age 17. In other seasons, you’ll find him
playing with the Dixie Dandies.
Piano teacher Dr. Jose Mendez is “one of the
finest pianists in the area,” said Hooker, and
Yoon Choi, who runs the choir, is a noted jazz vocalist
in Manhattan.
The younger staff members are also accomplished musicians
at the high school or college level: Strings director
Brook Linden was the principal violinist at MHS, for
example. |
The 66 campers get guidance from 17 staffers, and
all 83 come together during choir class to belt out
Beatles tunes. “I get by with a little help from
my friends,” they sang.
|
|
  Some
of the campers need more help from their friends than
others. The youngest violinists learn to hold their
eighth-sized instruments. “No ‘poison ivy elbows!” instructs
Brook Linden as she teaches them proper arm placement
and how to pluck out the scales. At the same time, a
more advanced student gets to jam with Yoon Choi in an
impromptu piano-viola jazz duet.
The camp has always been
a place to explore – new music, new instruments.
It’s not looking to become a conservatory, explained
Hooker. “The Town is looking for an enriching,
non-threatening experience,” he said. The goal
is to “turn kids on to music.” |
|
Print This Page--For best results, use landscape
option in Preferences
Email
this article
|
