Summer Camp Hits the Right Note With Kids

On weekday mornings, the hills around Old Meadows Park in Thousand Oaks are alive with the sound of music.

The park, at 1600 Marview Drive, is the site of the annual Conejo Valley Summer Music Camp for young musicians ages 11 to 15, sponsored by the Arts Council of the Conejo Valley.

“It’s a lot more fun than school,” said aspiring 11-year-old flutist Allison McAuley, who is entering the seventh grade at Los Altos Intermediate School in Camarillo. “It’s not just play the notes right, or else.”

The youths receive two weeks of intensive instruction from Janine Delwarte, who has taught at the summer music camp for eight years. A professional musician, Delwarte plays flute, clarinet and sax.

“My goal with the kids is to make this a fun opportunity to play music and to get more in in two weeks than they would all summer if they were home,” Delwarte said.

Delwarte added that the camp also allows youngsters who enjoy playing music an opportunity to meet others with similar interests.

Delwarte’s students play together as an ensemble and in smaller groups for three hours each day, where they learn to perform classical pieces, like Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” and contemporary works, such as the theme to the movie “Chariots of Fire.”

“It’s kind of tiring after three hours, but it’s fun,” said 12-year-old Jennifer Leys, a sixth-grader who plays flute at Weathersfield Elementary School in Thousand Oaks. “It’s not like stress or anything.”

Twelve-year-old percussionist David Schachner, who will be a seventh-grader at Los Cerritos Intermediate School in Thousand Oaks, agrees.

“You don’t get a grade [or] have to turn in practice sheets for an A,” David said. “I also get to play the drum set in jazz band and small ensemble--in school I can only play the timpani and snare [drums].”

Many of the young musicians at the camp hope the summer practice will win them a seat in the advanced band when school starts.

Some, like 10-year-old Clare Gollnick of Meadows Elementary School, just want to improve.

“This year I was supposed to be in beginning band, but our advanced band was so small I was moved up, and I wasn’t as good, so I wanted to get better,” said the fifth-grader.

The interests of Delwarte’s group of musicians go beyond playing tunes on typical band and orchestral instruments, such as trumpets, drums, flutes and saxophones.

John Sullivan, 14, who plays the trumpet in band as an eighth-grader at Colina Intermediate school, has also picked up the bagpipes.

“My mom loves the bagpipes,” said Sullivan, who practices for two hours after getting home from camp and plays the pipes with his older brother. “Bagpipes are her favorite instrument.”

On Friday, Delwarte’s students will stage a recital at noon under one of the huge old oak trees in Old Meadows Park.

A second group of students will begin band camp on Monday.