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Campbell students get musical at summer enrichment camp
By SARAH Lehr
CAMPBELL
As students performed a dance routine to Sara Bareilles’ pop song “Brave,” Timothy Borham, Campbell choir director, snapped his fingers to the beat and yelled out instructions.
“Be confident!” “Look straight ahead!” “Hold your arms up!”
About 60 Campbell students entering grades six though 12 are participating in a music camp this week at the K-7 School, 2002 Community Circle.
The camp, a joint venture between Campbell City Schools and Ohio University, originated from conversations between Borham and Paul Mayhew, assistant professor of music at OU. Mayhew taught Borham several years ago at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio.
OU and Campbell school instructors joined nine OU students to lead the program. The experience counts as urban field study, a requirement for music-education majors at the Athens-based university.
The camp, which is jointly funded by OU and the school district, is free for students. Participants also receive lunches, snacks and busing.
The five-day program will culminate with a performance Friday evening at Roosevelt Park, weather permitting. Instructors will announce the specific time of the performance.
Nyla Hobard, who will be a seventh-grader this coming school year and who sings in the choir and plays saxophone for the band, isn’t intimidated by that prospect.
“I like the adrenaline of performing,” she said.
Nyla is passionate about dance and hopes to open her own performing-arts school one day. For Nyla, learning to play “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” on the ukulele was a highlight of the program.
Borham noted the camp is designed to be fun as well as educational. It allows to students to explore a variety of music styles, including pop, gospel, jazz and musical theater.
“I know it’s cliche,” Borham said, “but, music is an outlet. For some students, their music classes are the only reason they want to come to school.”
Mayhew said the intensive camp schedule allows students to learn and retain more than they would during the bounds of the regular school year.
He affirmed the value of music education, describing how it requires students to read and analyze symbols, hone their motor skills and engage emotionally.
“Yes, music can improve your ACT scores,” Mayhew said, referring to studies that show a correlation between music education and higher test scores. “But that’s not why we should teach music. We should teach music because it’s a great art form in and of itself. It’s part of our culture.”