Noozhawk’s ParentNooz Camp Guide is officially here and we made sure to make things easy when planning your child’s summer!
To give parents the tools to help make informed decisions about Summer Camps for their kids in Santa Barbara, Noozhawk has conducted a series of interviews with representatives of local programs for this year’s Summer Camp Guide.
In this interview, Noozhawk spoke with Laurie Robinson, Director for Southern California Piano Academy, to learn more about the summer music programs they are offering this year.
Southern California Piano Academy
Question: What is the name of your camp or program?
Answer: SummerFest Music Camps:
-Vocal Camp
-Composing Music for Video Games and Film
-Piano Camp: Jazz & Blues
-Digital Music and Audio with Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) Technology
Q: What is the focus of your camp or program?
A: -Performing Arts: Voice, Piano and Composition
-STEAM: Employing Digital Audio & Music Technologies
Q: How many years has the camp been running? Do you have any professional accreditations or certifications?
A: This is our 14th year co-presenting the Venice Voice Academy with our Italian colleague Giovanna Gattuso. This is our first year of bringing it to Santa Barbara children and our 4th year of presenting the other music camps in Santa Barbara.
Our credentials can be found in depth on our school website, but we have been building music education curriculum for 25 years on two continents.
We have performed with over 41 North American and international orchestras for the past 10 years, and have earned multiple debuts on the Billboard Top-10 Classical Crossover charts.
Our director is a member of the professional music teacher guild, MTNA, and California CAPMT District 9.
Q: What protocols does your camp have in place due to COVID-19?
A: We have decided to produce the camps both in person and virtual again for the 2022 SummerFest Season, due to the possibility of covid restrictions. It worked seamlessly last season, and we had the added benefit of enrolling students from across the country.
Meanwhile, all in-person campers and instructors are required to follow county regulations and best practices- so we will notify families of any protocol updates prior to the start of each session.
Q: What goals do you have for kids participating in your camp or program?
A: Originally our program was created as an “energy booster” for local children to return to their fall school and private music programs re-energized, and having made new musical friends and colleagues.
We discovered that many kids just simply want to experiment with different musical opportunities, without having to make a long-term commitment. So now we are providing additional camps, not just for the advanced students, but also the novices as well to come, dive in and discover!
Q: Describe a typical day for a child attending your camp or program.
A: Our camps are completely non-competitive in nature, which makes it super fun. But they are also pretty high intensity, so we break them up into ½ day camps, per age group, and prior level of study. All of the SummerFest music camps are true laboratory/workshop sessions.
In Composition, Piano and Music Technology camps, each day opens with group discovery of the over-arching content, followed by group and individual instruction, where a daily topic is presented for campers to apply to their own composition, song or project. After a short break, the final segment is a review of each others’ work in a traditional masterclass setting.
Participants can return home for the afternoon, with these new insights into their projects and to continue working on their own, in preparation for the next day’s program. During vocal camp, the daily format includes individual and group coaching, songwriting, vocal techniques for solo and choir singing, mic technique and having fun!
Q: What is the staff to child ratio? Do you require training or background checks for your employees?
A: Our maximum student to staff ratio is 9:1 for the ages 9-12, and 12:1 for the teens. We definitely require background checks, for all of our school staff, not just during SummerFEST.
Q: What is the best part, in your opinion, about your camp or program?
A: It’s very difficult to find this kind of instruction in Santa Barbara county, in a short-term camp format, if at all. We are very fortunate that our professional colleagues from around the world agree to teach and guest lecture at SummerFest.
While the curriculum is adjusted for age and proficiency, it is still very “nutrient dense,” because our instructors bring their own professional standards to the tasks, and this lets our kids get to dive in deep to experiment at this level of knowledge and mentoring!
Q: In what ways is your camp or program educational?
A: This is the best and most fun part! SummerFest’s primary goal is to provide an environment for all kids to discover, test out and develop their inner musician or audio geek. All of our music camps–composition, singing and piano–are truly professional-level instruction, but adjusted for age-appropriate learning by kind and fun instructors.
Our DAW Digital Audio and Music Technology camp is a dive into the parts of STEAM that include physics of sound (acoustics) technology, audio signal, audio engineering, music mixing and also introduction to the recording arts.
Q: What is the age and price range of your camp? Do you offer any scholarships?
A: The 2022 SummerFest season is developed for grades 4-12 (ages 9-18) The price range is $275-$345 per camp. We do have need-based scholarships available. Families need to call the school office for application links and we’ll help them fill out the process. Our goal is to have no student turned away who is genuinely interested in these subjects!
Click here to learn more about Southern California Piano Academy Camps.