Electives

CHAMBER MUSIC & ELECTIVES

During the afternoon and evening, MMR singers and instrumentalists broaden their musical experience by participating in a wide variety of small chamber ensembles and elective classes. Registered participants will be sent an Afternoon Activities Preference form to indicate their choices. A typical program would be one Chamber Ensemble, and one Elective or Free Time.  Ensembles and Electives are scheduled in the same time slots. Experienced campers reserve some time each day for FREE TIME, practice, rest or recreation.

Electives change each year.   Electives for 2013: 

Free Time   Experienced campers have found that it is wise to reserve some free time each day for practice, rest or recreation.

Composition, Prior experience or Theory class required, Roupen Shakarian

Music Theory, Roger Nelson

Music Fundamentals for Singers, Sing in a choir and want to hone your music reading skills? Study with the proven Kodály Method. Through this introductory workshop, you will develop your musical thinking, and inner hearing through direct experience with the elements of music.  Loren Pontén

History of Rock and Roll The time line of this survey class will begin with the development of the blues in the Mississippi Delta, and will rush through the 20th century to the present. It will be lecture style with lots of class participation in terms of singing oldies but goodies. Daily Q&A will be welcome, and participants can see if they can “stump the prof.” Michael Burch-Pesses

Flute Choir, faculty

Percussion Ensemble, Gunnar Folsom

Drum Circle, You do not have to be a master drummer to succeed in this class. After learning the basic technique for hand drumming we will learn African and Latin drumming patterns. Through these patterns we practice our ensemble skills of listening, feeling the internal pulse and fitting our rhythm into the pattern. Past students have said that transferring what they learn in this class to their other instruments helps them in rehearsal and performance settings. Karen Sunmark

Afternoon Elective Orchestra   An afternoon ensemble for strings, brass, and classical winds. Repertoire drawn from all eras. Lots of sight reading; low key performance. Very fun!  Roger Nelson.

Vocal Chamber Ensembles for Instrumentalists & Instrumental Chamber Ensembles for Vocalists  Campers join standard coached ensembles on their secondary instrument or voice

Brass Ensemble, Open to all brass: uses standard, modern instruments. Directed by William Berry

Jazz Big Band, An ideal group for all who enjoy performing large ensemble jazz. The group features traditional big band instrumentation: saxophones, trumpets, trombones and rhythm section players — piano, bass and drums. Repertoire is drawn from a mix of unique arrangements of jazz standards and originals. The band performs at Skit Night. Patrick Sheng

Saxophone Ensemble, Patrick Sheng 

Fiddling, This elective will introduce violins to fiddle styles and techniques. Carol Ann Wheeler

Baroque Strings, A chance to explore with a true master of baroque performance. Open to all strings; offered in 2013.  Sandi Schwarz

Eurythmics, Develop your musical understanding with a dip into the system of rhythmical physical movements created by Émile Jaques-Dalcroze. Deede Cook

Beginning Voice Class,This elective is specifically geared toward those who might be new to singing and will cover the basics of vocal production, health, and repertoire. Participants will each learn one or two songs for solo performance. Open to instrumentalists and vocalists. Rebekah Gilmore

Medieval Men's Chorus . A class for all levels that includes singing “by ear” as well as reading chant and monophonic songs. Learn the unique challenges and empowering sound of unison singing! Jason Anderson

Medieval Women's Chorus A class for all levels that includes singing “by ear” as well as reading chant and monophonic songs by Hildegard of Bingen. Learn the unique challenges and empowering sound of unison singing! Lisa Cardwell Pontén