Day 11: Staff So Talented
Today was a gorgeous day at Walker Creek! Singers began the penultimate full day of camp with scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and mixed fruits. The iconic voice teacher Tim led warmups, which is always a good time as he is beloved by all the campers. After a thorough warm-up, campers headed to their musicianship classes. In Anna and Kailamae’s musicianship class, a group of students worked on a dictation from memory of a beloved camp song, “This Pretty Planet,” and the campers all did a great job with the theory!
Ensemble worked on Panda Chant and more Estonian music in preparation for tour. Concert Choir had a bit of a silly rehearsal, involving a dance party to the Beatles, which apparently was a bit of an educational experience for some of the campers; shocking the staff!
Today’s theme for Spirit dress up was Dress like a counselor day— the singers always love dressing as different staff members! One creative group even dressed up as a musical staff! (The five-lines version)
After lunch, and a rest period that was not mandatory sleep, campers enjoyed the sunshine and some free time, with some folks heading up to Turtle Pond, some enjoying board games and shade on the tarp, and others working on arts and crafts, which today was keychains! Campers had their pick of wooden keychains or mini stuffed turtles, both of which were awesome.
Camp Joyful Voices had an afternoon excursion to beautiful Walker Creek (the creek itself), and decided it was so wonderful and pretty that they want to make it a tradition and return to the same place annually. All campers enjoyed seeing the nature and splashing Counselor Grace!
Recital was a little longer tonight to accommodate the large group of entirely students performing on recital. Campers have been working hard on their voice lesson songs for the last week and a half and were excited (and a bit nervous) to show off their hard work for their friends. Everyone sang beautifully, and the audience was wowed by the performances, ending with a group piece performed by voice teacher Dana’s vocal class.
Tonight’s evening activity, the long awaited and annually beloved “Staff No Talent Night,” was a hit. The activity began with a music video put together by this year’s staff, directed by Counselor Maddy, welcoming the campers to the show. The video, set to the tune of rising pop star Chappell Roan’s hit song “Hot To Go,” contained lyrics describing the experience of another great summer at Walker Creek Ranch, complete with little quips from the past two weeks all the campers enjoyed.
Some other highlights from “Staff No Talent Night” included an Eric and Kymry duet where they each alternated playing piano and singing the classic Italian folk song, Caro Mio Ben, a Mad-libs style rendition of Homeward Bound, and an audience-participation Sound Board, where campers could come up and press buttons that caused the hidden counselors to make silly sounds.
Campers got ready for bed as the evening fog rolled in, ready for one last full day of singing, swimming, friendship bracelet-making, and continuing to build upon the beautiful community we have created this camp.