I recently went to band/choir camp with my school music department, as well as the music department of another high school nearby. I was a little anxious, and a little excited, and just generally didn't know what it was going to be like.
It turned out to be some of the most fun I've ever had with my school ever - and that includes last year's 24-hour drum, and that was a blast!
The camp took place way high up in the mountains, in a beautiful place with hills and a lake and mountains and hundreds of deer everywhere. It was an absolute gorgeous place. We were there for two sleeps, and about two and a half days. And boy, the amount of stuff you can fit into two and half days.
First of all, on the first night of the camp, one of the teachers went in front of the group and talked about making music, and what a wonderful oppurtunity this was, and how excited she was for the trip, blah blah blah. Then she said something that kind of stuck with me through the weekend, and that was that she wanted us to take risks while we were here. And I thought about it. I thought about some artists that I admire. And I decided I was going to try to take risks. I was going to try to scare myself a little bit. Because being shy and timid is all fine and good when you're in a classroom environment, but this was outside at a camp full of friendly people who all shared a passion for the same thing, and part of being an artist is taking risks. So my goal for that weekend was to try to take some risks, and do some things I wouldn't normally do. Which I think is fair to say that I accomplished that.
I went ziplining.
This doesn't sound like all that big a deal, until you realize that I have a crippling fear of heights that prevents me from looking out over balconies or even sitting on railings without my heart beating too hard and fast. So ziplining out high above the (three storey) buildings, and eventually out over the lake even, is kind of a big deal for me. (I really wanted to do it again after it was done, but we could only go once because reasons). I think it's fair to say that's the biggest risk I took that weekend, and I'm extremely proud of it.
I just found that being able to bond with people over a common love of music was one of the most profound experiences I've had. Hell, I'd barely even talked to Seren (a girl in my band) before Rockridge, and by the end of the weekend we were acting like we'd known each other for years. Honestly, I've never bonded with people that quickly before, and sure, part of it was the fact that everyone was there and together, but I think a lot of it had to do with the music, and the common passion for it.
One of the clinicians who was there, Mr. Sparks, he talked about how he'd gone to Africa to work with a boy's choir down there. As usual, there was a lot of political stuff going on in Africa, a sort of civil war happening in this case. Anyways, as he watched the boy's choir singing, he noticed that two of the boys were holding hands. He asked the conductor why they were doing that. It turns out, those two boys were from the two communities that were fighting, that were killing each other. And they sang together, and they held each other's hands in what I like to think of as something a bit more meaningful than a peace offering.
Music is an art form, and as such, it shows a vulnerability in people that you don't always see. It's so much easier to accept and befriend each other when you can't judge each other for their art. Because, in a group where it's all happening together in unison, their art=your art= everyone's art. And especially when everyone loves it, you just can't be judgmental. It's actually not possible.
There was one thing that happened that weekend that I think everyone loved. It was called the Talent Show - it was more like open mic. Before it happened, the snack bar had been opened, and the camp had this huge sundae they called the Pinnacle - eight scoops of ice cream, four toppings, the works. The teachers had of course been encouraging us to share it with each other. So, naturally, me and Seren went "Screw that, we're each going to get one for ourselves." So we each got an eight-scoop-four-topping sundae. People stopped and stared. Mr. A, the student teacher, and one of my favourite chaperones simply because he acted more like a student, asked us what the cost of diabetes was. "About thirty bucks," we replied. And then came the Talent Show.
We were both high on ice cream, but Seren raised our hands when Ms. Ottens asked who wanted to go up. First up was Santiago (I think that's how you spell his name), who played a song he wrote on his guitar and sang along, and was actually really talented and good. Cameron did a magic show. Then we went up there.
"Sorry if we don't know what we're doing, we just ate a Pinnacle each," Seren began.
"And that's our talent, thank you, goodnight," I joked, pretending to walk offstage. Seren pulled me back.
"So," Seren began, doing the talking, "we thought that tonight we'd do some family bonding."
I chuckled. That was one way to put it.
"We think you'll enjoy it," Seren continued, "and that'll it'll really pull us together as a group."
Spotting the piano off to the side, I said, before I realized I was saying it, "I think I'll play it on piano."
Seren looked at me, surprised. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." I sat down at the keyboard. I remembered the first chord, at least.... "I mean, it's been a while, so I'll probably forget, but I'll try."
"Okay," Seren turned to our waiting audience, "so, if Megan forgets..."
"Don't worry, Megan!" called Caleb, "it's the piano's fault!"
I laughed. "Thanks Caleb!" I called back.
Seren looked at me. "How are we going to start this?"
"We didn't really prepare, in case you haven't noticed," I said to our audience with a grin.
"How do we start?" Seren asked.
I went simple. "1....2.... 3.... 4...." I played the first chord and we began singing. "Is this the real life...?"
Immediately every teenager in the room whooped and cheered for Bohemian Rhapsody before beginning to sing along. Which was probably good, since I forgot the rest of the piano part about three chords in. I stayed at the piano trying to figure out where we were. I managed to play one part of the piano part, which made people happy as they sang along. As I ran with what I remembered I forgot about the Bb in the key signature and played a ridiculously obvious wrong note. I must have grimaced or something onstage because a significant amount of people, including Mr. A, burst out laughing as the rest of them continued to sing, choosing not to care about the wrong note.
When we got to the part with the guitar solo between the opera bit and the slow bit, I attempted to play it on piano, but it had been made pretty clear that I had no idea what I was doing, so Caleb and Sam began to sing/shout the tune of the guitar solo from the crowd. I sang along with them. Eventually Han, the choir piano player, ran up to help us, searching for the Bohemian Rhapsody sheet music in his box to help me out. I spotted it before he did, since it was the same as my own, and whipped it out of the box. Ms. Ottens rushed up to the stage with a music stand (one of the only ones on the property, by the way - for a music camp, you'd think we'd remember to bring music stands along, but noooooooo), and I adjusted the music on the stand, and the stand to my height.
It didn't really help though. By that point we were halfway through the opera bit, and there was no way I was catching up by that point. I gave up, standing up from the keyboard and singing along with Seren and, well, every other teenager in the room. I moved my arms dramatically, and it became exceedingly obvious that me and Seren had absolutely nothing planned as we both sang both the low part and the high part - and with that it became exceedingly obvious that no one cared if we'd planned it or not, because everyone was having too much fun, singing both parts themselves. Eventually we got to the other guitar solo, and this time everyone sang it, even though I did attempt to sit down and play it on the piano again. I screwed up, gave up, stood back up, and acted dramatic as everyone sang along, having the time of their lives. Eventually the rock portion was over, and I at least remembered the beginning of the epilogue to this song, so I sat back down at the piano, whipped the pages of the sheet music over to the part I would attempt to sight-read, and as everyone quieted, I began to play.
And the keyboard made an ugly, tinny noise that I'd never heard come out of a keyboard before.
Again, I must have made a face or something, because everyone in the room burst out laughing. I looked up, shaking my head with a grin on my face. "I have no idea what noise that was," I said. As everyone laughed, me and Seren seemed to decide simultaneously that the moment had ended, and we walked offstage, giggling with each other.
What followed the rest of the talent show was a lot of Riverside kids going up and showing their stuff, having just as much fun as we did while we were on the stage. A group of choir kids went up with a mentally challenged girl who loved Frozen, and they backed her up in a round of the song Let It Go from the movie (if you don't know that song - I mean, have you been living under a rock?) and made her feel so great, then a group went up calling themselves Ugly and the Sweaters, inviting anyone to dance and sing along. Immediately me and Seren stood up, brushing ourselves off, so ready to dance you have no idea.
What I couldn't help but notice was that, as everyone at Riverside had the time of their lives and rocked and grooved our hearts out, the music department from Heritage Woods just sat and watched us, not moving, not grooving, I couldn't even tell if they were singing along. As we later found out from them, that school is apparently super clique-y, and so if any of them had gone up and acted the way we had, they would have been judged immediately and harshly by their peers. Which makes me so intensely grateful for the wonderful people we have in the Riverside music department, how friendly and kind and unjudgmental we/they are.
Later that night we were gathered around the campfire, me, Seren, Caleb, and a few others, (Caleb glady told us that me and Seren had "torn down the house" in the Talent Show) singing any and every campfire song that crossed our minds - hits included The Campfire Song Song, and I think it was called Baby Shark? Whatever, it was fun, no matter how eye-rolly some other people were getting with us (good-natured eye-rolling for the most part, mind you). Mr. A told a scary story, or what he told us was a scary story, and I couldn't help but laugh (and join in) as everyone screamed and howled dramatically when he got to the part where the characters didn't have WiFi.
I'd never felt so much a part of a cohesive group, and I think that a large part, if not the single biggest part, of that was because we bonded over a common love of music. I love that music can do this, bring people together and make one friends with people they never thought they'd be friends with. I love this about music, I love that people love music, I love the togetherness I felt at that camp, and I love that being together and so wonderful to each other can help us take risks and face fears. It's all connected, and that was some of the most fun I'd ever had.
Not part of my thesis point, but some amusing anecdotes from band camp:
The first night we were there, before me and Seren had really talked, she goodnaturedly made fun of someone in our group. I waited for the moment and turned the same teasing back on her. The next exchange went something like this.
Seren: You better sleep with one eye open.
Me: *laughing*
Seren: When we get back to the cabin, you're getting a pillow to the face.
Me: *giggling hysterically*
Seren: This is not the usual reaction when people threaten you.
Me: *still giggling*
Seren: Megan, are you on drugs? Do you do the mari-ju-wanas?
Me: I do ALL the mari-ju-wanas!
She burst out laughing, called me a weenie, and we're still in verbal battle to this day.
She then spent a good portion of the evening reciting to everyone the worst fan-fiction ever written, in her flawless derp voice. It was some of the funniest stuff I'd ever heard.
We stayed up until one thirty in the morning that first night, me, Seren, Courtney, Aileen, Kianna, Sora, and Meegan all piled onto the top bunk, talking well into the night. Meegan was the last one up, and I can tell you, pulling her up onto that bunk with all the rest of us already squashed up there was a bit of an ordeal.
We played Capture the Flag the next day. Or, we tried to. The other team found our flag within three minutes, and had brought it back over within ten. Then, when we switched sides, we played for over half and hour, and to our frustration, our team still had absolutely no idea where the other team's flag was. We'd scouted all over the place, and when we asked them, they didn't seem to have any idea themselves - the general consensus was that someone was wandering around with it in his pocket, thinking they were clever. Eventually the game was stopped and everyone was sent back up. Turns out, the flag had been blown away by the wind somehow, and they spent a good half hour searching for it. Never found it. This story amuses me greatly.
Then there was the games of mafia/werewolves that took place. Those were hilarious and awesome. I should win an Oscar for the performance I put on, pretending not to be one of the werewolves. Also, if people do end up living on the moon, they should take a lesson from us, and name their city Saskamoon.
All in all, the trip was great, I loved it, and I'm glad I went.
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