Past and present students share memories from SAIL Music Camp

A child learning to play the cello and hold the bow

Credits: Steve Snodgrass, via flickr

SAIL Camp is in its 27th year of introducing music to Lincoln students, and students new and old want to keep coming back. The week of July 25th was first session, while the second session is coming to a close this week of August 1-5th. Jessica Dussault first attended SAIL the summer before she entered fourth grade, the next two summers she came back to play in the second session and in the honors orchestra. “I had a blast every year,” she said. She also says that SAIL gave her a huge head start on learning the cello. What normally takes months to learn, with SAIL camp, “the process is compressed into just one week.”

Dussault was later a recipient of a generous scholarship from SAIL Camp as she headed to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln to study music. She said that this demonstrates “yet another way that the organization is dedicated to encouraging students to continue playing throughout their lives.” This year, she filled the role of “lieutenant” or teacher for the first time. She’s come full circle, “I was a bit nervous to be a teacher this year, starting kids on the cello alongside the same local musicians who once taught me how to play, but it has been a really great experience.” By the end of the week, you know that “everything the fourth graders know is something that they've been taught by you.” With the fifth graders who are at all different levels, Dussault said she “spent a lot of time talking about the audition process for YES (the Youth Ensemble of Strings), famous cellists, and playing musical games in order to keep everyone excited about camp, even though they were all at different levels of playing ability.

Deanna Steward already knew that SAIL was a great experience since her son had attended a few years ago, and this year, her daughter, Kara, was excited to attend for the first time. Kara, who was learning cello, loved the games, gym, and Mozart Money. When asked what she thought of SAIL, Kara excitedly said: “It was awesome!” and she can’t wait to go back next year. Kara was also excited that although she had simply been learning how to pluck the strings, but by the end of the week, she had learned bow-hold and “didn’t even have to look at my strings anymore.” She thought that playing the pieces was really exciting because she felt like she knew them so well by the end of camp.

Deanna liked the experience “very much,” and she likes that SAIL is “motivating for kids to see other kids doing this same thing and working together to create really cool music...she gets a little boost seeing other people doing the same thing.” With a smile, she said “I wish I could have done that when I was her age!”

Much like Kara’s first experience, Dussault remembers her first year at SAIL: “I can clearly remember two specific memories from when I was a fourth grader starting out on cello. I recall being extremely frustrated in class trying to put my fingers down on the strings AND move the bow in the right direction AND play on the correct string without overlapping others, but by the end of the camp suddenly it wasn't so hard after all! I also remember saving my Mozart Money and Copland Cash up so I could buy all sorts of dolphin key chains and fun things. I still have a toy lizard that I bought ten years ago hanging out in a potted plant.”

Whether or not the students choose to go on in music, they have learned important skills for life through SAIL with the focus needed to learn their instrument and learn to work together to make music! This is an experience that lasts through their life.

Strings Alliance in Lincoln introduces music to grade schoolers

Children's attention can be held by music--here children are attentively listening to their conductor just as students are taught to do at SAIL Music Camps in Lincoln

Credits: Lotzman Katzman, via flickr

SAIL Camp is not about sailing or the sea, it is about music and is a wonderful program in Lincoln dedicated to bringing a little music into student's lives during the summer. It is brought to Lincoln students by the Lincoln Public School system, and Mike Swartz, currently the director of the program, shares a little of the camp's history and exciting possibilities for the students.

What is SAIL Camp?
SAIL Music Camp is a summer day camp for students wishing to learn to play or improve on their stringed instrument. In the first few years of its existence, SAIL was for brand new beginners only. As the camp gained in popularity and size we expanded to 2 sessions. Session 1 was for beginners and session 2 for students with 1 to 2 years of experience. The curriculum was modified to allow for this change. After a few more years we found that middle school students wanted to continue to come to SAIL but were too old and experienced for Session 2. At that point, (I think it was 1993) I created the Honors Orchestra. This group is for students from 6th to 9th grade and plays much more advanced music.

SAIL Camp 2010 Concert

What was the inspiration for SAIL Camp?
Our founder was Phoebe Hamaan. Phoebe was very active in the Sigma Alpha Iota professional music fraternity for women and SAIL was first envisioned as an "outreach project" for the fraternity. The acronym "SAIL" comes from sigma alpha iota and stand for "Strings Alliance in Lincoln." Once the acronym was decided it was easy to develop a camp where we are all "Sailors on the Sea of Song" with students divided into "fish schools" such as "guppies", "minnows" etc. I am the "Captain" of the ship and my teachers are "Lieutenants" with our high school helpers who are "Interns". In the first years, the Parks & Recreation Department provided the facilities for free, LPS provided the instruments and transportation for them, and SAI provided volunteers to do everything except actually teach the classes. From the beginning instructors were paid. As the camp evolved we became too large for Parks and Rec. so LPS picked up the facilities as well. As we have grown and grown we have kept the founding principles that Phoebe envisioned but have modified camp to become more efficient and self-supporting.

How many years since SAIL camp began? How many students would you say have attended?
SAIL Music Camp is in its 27th year! In its infancy there were no computers and records have a way of getting lost. I know the first year there were 34 campers. This year there are 376! For the last 15 years there have been at least 350 per year and that alone would make 5250! I would guestimate the total number near to 7000.

Can you share one specific memory or time that you saw music really move and take hold of a young student’s heart and mind?
There are so many students that have been moved deeply by their camp experiences that this a really tough one. We have had many of our high school student teacher interns that have decided to go into teaching after their SAIL experience--not all in music--but they just found that they loved to teach kids! One that may stand out is a camper (and former private student of mine) named Erik Higgins. When he was in third grade he declared that he was going to be a bass player. After his SAIL experience and other experiences both in school and out he worked extremely hard (and was brilliant). At the age of 14, he won the International Society of Bassists worldwide competition for 14 and under. At 17, he won the American String Teachers Association National Competition for Double Bass. He currently is residing in Germany as a professional bassist.
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SAIL Music Camp had a week session for southern Lincoln and one for northern Lincoln this year which were from July 25-29 and August 1-5. You can read and find out more at the SAIL website.