8 young students try their hands at piano camp, one already composes

YOUNGSTOWN

Music at summer camp isn’t anything new.

But at Summer Piano Camp, no one sits around a campfire. And you won’t hear “Kumbaya.”

Instead, campers sit at pianos, composing their own music and performing Beethoven.

The camp, which wrapped up Friday with a recital, was a joint effort of Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music and Valley Christian Schools’ Lewis Center.

Eight third-to-eighth-graders participated with varying levels of piano and music knowledge, said Sean Baran, a piano instructor, who ran the camp.

“For some of them, this was first time they’ve ever been at a piano,” Baran said. “One is self-taught.”

He was referring to Scott Conner, 14, an eighth-grader at the Lewis Center.

“I learned some with a piano book,” Scott said.

He learned by doing. He learned about chords by playing them to identify those that sounded good.

When Scott was 7 or 8, he started composing.

Read more about him and others at the camp in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.