Camp camaraderie

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Too loud. Too soft. Too flat.

The music came haltingly at first as the conductor pointed out wrong notes or poor timing. Every bar was rehearsed again and again.

But by the end of an hourlong rehearsal on stage at Academic Auditorium on Wednesday, Dr. Robert Conger had words of praise for the about 50 junior and senior high school concert band students.

"Bravo," said the Southeast Missouri State University assistant professor of music before sending the students off to lunch. "Very good, big-time progress."

Lauren Bishop of Cape Girardeau played violin in the strings music camp at the Rose Theatre. (Fred Lynch)

The rehearsal was one of many as part of a weeklong music camp at the school where students spend about seven hours a day playing their instruments.

The two weeks of music camps draw students from Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri, and as far away as St. Louis and Kansas City, said camp director and Southeast Missouri State University band director Barry Bernhardt.

Last week's camp involved about 85 fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.

About the same number of junior high and high school students are participating in this week's camp. In addition to the band concert students, about 35 students are participating in the string orchestra program with rehearsals at Rose Theatre.

This week's camp ends Saturday with a 2 p.m. concert at Academic Hall that is free and open to the public.

To the public, the end result is that concert. For students, however, the chance to concentrate on music and the camaraderie are what mean the most to them.

No one can compare to Whitney Scheurmann when it comes to celebrating music camp. She graduated from Affton High School this spring, but that didn't deter her from coming back to Cape Girardeau for her seventh consecutive year.

"I love it here," said Scheurmann, who plays the violin. "I make new friends every year."

She met her boyfriend here. The two met at last year's band camp and have been dating since.

While the stops and starts of rehearsals and the repetition of a few bars over and over can make students think they'll never get it right, Scheurmann said the practice pays off.

"We always pull through on Saturday," she said, referring to the concert.

Jackson High School senior Tim Smith spends his days at camp playing the trombone, which is a big change from the school year, when he has academic studies to attend to.

"You get way more time to play," he said of music camp.

Jackson High School senior Josh Steinnerd, who plays the tuba, has been attending music camp for five years. "It's a lot of fun," he said. "Here, you get a lot more one-on-one attention."

At Wednesday's morning full rehearsal of the concert band, that attention came often in the form of instructions on tempo and advice on how to hold instruments.

"We want to hear expression," Conger encouraged the students.

"Spread your teeth," he advised one trombone player who wasn't hitting the notes just right.

"The pencil has a better memory than you do," he said, advising the students to make notations to help them perform the music properly.

Conger repeatedly snapped his fingers as he kept time to the music.

"Do it again, do it again," he told band members.

At one point, he told some of the student musicians they were pausing at the wrong time in the movement. "Don't breathe there," he said.

Rehearsing several bars, Conger said, "Let's make it sound like a tune. It's danger, action, adventure."

A block away at Rose Theatre, Dale Swisher, director of the Xavier University Orchestra in Cincinnati, Ohio, conducts a rehearsal of the string orchestra students.

"Hold it. Let's play our key," he told them. "We need to fix up the B flats."

After a lengthy rehearsal, Swisher was encouraged. "It's definitely better," he told the students.

This is the 49th year for the university's music camps.

Southeast used to hold three weeks of music camps, drawing about 600 students each week. But the increased camp fee and many other activities for students have lessened participation, the camp's Bernhardt said.

In 1990, a student paid $100 to attend a weeklong camp at Southeast, which included staying and eating in campus dorms. This year the cost is $350. Bernhardt said room and board charges account for much of the increase.

The cost today is a deterrent for some music students, said Butch Owens, director of bands at New Madrid County Central High School. He is part of the 20-member camp staff this summer, but none of his students is attending.

"It's costly. It's tough for my students," he said.

However, having fewer participants does have its advantages, Bernhardt said. Students get more individual instruction, and it's easier to find practice space for the different sections of the band or orchestra to rehearse.

Years ago, music camp was hard to miss. "Every nook and cranny had a band or orchestra group in it," recalled Bernhardt.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123