Upcoming Concerts and a Glimpse into Camp Life

This is the schedule for special events for camp this year: 
-Southwest Minnesota Orchestra Summer Concert: 
Wednesday July 26th at 7:00pm at the Liberty Park Band Shell, Marshall MN (Rain location: First Lutheran Church, Marshall)
-StringWorks Masterclass with a guest clinician:
Dr. Korey Konkol, Viola & Chamber Music (you can read more about him here.)
Thursday July 27th 11:00-noon, 1-2:00pm SMSU Fine Arts
-Meadowlark Quartet Concert 
Thursday July 27th 7:00-7:45pm SMSU Campus Religious Center
-Southwest Minnesota String Festival Community Concert: 
Friday July 28th at the Marshall-Lyon County Library 1:00pm, Free and Open to the Public
-Southwest Minnesota String Festival Final Concert: 
Saturday July 29th 1:00-2:00pm Campus Religious Center, SMSU.  Please join us for a brief reception to follow.
All SMSF concerts and events are free, thanks to our donors and sponsors. Also note that the concerts on Friday and Saturday are the same, just on Saturday it's the end of camp and there's a reception afterward. The Saturday concert will be less rushed as well.

   I will be in all of these, except the masterclass and meadowlark quartet. I did participate in the masterclass last year, one solo and one with my quartet. Although it was a good experience, it was a lot to cram in, with practicing being limited, and since I didn't know I was going to be in the masterclass until I got to camp. 
   This is a taste of what camp is like for me each day: 
7:30: Wake up. Sometimes hard to do, but that's not till the end of camp :)
8:15-9:00am Breakfast (the dorms we stay in are on the opposite side of campus as the cafeteria, which gives a nice cool morning walk before breakfast)
9:00-12:00pm  Practice, Coachings, Lessons (Usually one per hour, so you're always in and out of practice rooms. Hopefully the practice time comes first before a lesson or coaching.) 
12:00-1:00pm Lunch (another shorter walk, this time through the underground tunnels)
1:00-2:00pm Convocation (Think of this as a class where one of the groups plays and everyone picks on you :))

2:00-4:30pm Practice, Coachings, Chamber Rehearsals, Lessons (The same as 9-12 usually, with maybe a break around 3 or 3:30, if you feel you have the time to spare OR we have the concert at the library or masterclass, and that means we lose practice time.... grrrrr)
4:30-5:30pm Musicianship (This is more of a class-like setting, and we do have a teacher.)
5:30-6:30pm Dinner (another shorter walk.... through the tunnels again)
6:30-9:30pm Evening Activities (FREEDOM! :) We finally get to be outside, and this is usually the time where we relax, play games, and enjoy not being in a practice room)
10:00pm Quiet Time (I'm usually ready for bed by this time, but it depends on what my roommate is doing)
10:30pm Lights Out  (and... usually already with the lights out by now.)

So yes, it is busy, tiring (in a good way... but still), and hard, but it is so fun and I always learn so much. And no, my violin hardly ever leaves me. We do leave our instruments in a locked choir room for the nights, but we usually all bring our music and things back to the dorms with us. It took me a few days to get used to leaving my violin like that! 

I just realized this is another music post, though it does have variety :) 

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