Your future, our focus
P O W E L L, W y o. - The hills are alive with the sound of music, and so are the plains when music camps sponsored by Northwest College begin this summer.
First up is the Yellowstone Summer Music Camp (YSMC) for middle and high school musicians. The 18th annual YSMC will bring students from across Wyoming and Montana to the college campus in Powell Sunday-Friday, June 22-27.
The hills come alive with music when the 21st annual Yellowstone Jazz Camp for high school and adult musicians kicks into gear Sunday-Friday, July 6-11, at the college's mountain field station near Sunlight Basin.
Both camps offer scholarships, some of which are offered 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 states' honor band, orchestra or choir can claim nearly full-tuition 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 $225 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 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 final YSMC concert is Friday, June 27, and student talent night is Thursday, June 26.
Private lessons are available in voice, piano, percussion, guitar and all band instruments. Campers are also invited to enroll in special interest classes like computer music theory, computer composing, reedmaking/adjusting, jazz improvisation, Web design, fun and fitness, music and the Internet, sectional and small ensembles.
At the July camp in the mountains, the focus is strictly jazz and geared to high school and older 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 $280 scholarships and higher on a limited basis per instrument, and 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 Greeley Jazz Festival can cash them in for $260 scholarships. Instrumentalists can also apply for scholarships using taped audition material.
The 18 members of the Yellowstone Big Band are artists in residence this summer during the entire week. The jazz camp offers daily instruction in theory, improvisation, composition, arranging, plus opportunities for private lessons, master classes and multiple performance venues. Participants present their final concert Friday, July 11, at the Washington Park Bandshell in Powell.
Over its 20-year history, 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.
Total tuition, room and board for the jazz camp is $580. Full tuition, room and board at the Yellowstone Summer Music Camp is $440, or $300 for commuters who pay tuition only.
For more information about the camps, (including application forms, scholarship applications and camp schedules), click here and follow the camps link, e-mail Neil Hansen , camp director, or call (800) 560-4692, ext. 6427, or 307-754-6427.