top of page

Proposed Schedule (subject to change)(camp organization based on formation of 3 string quartets)

Monday/Wednesday/Friday
9:00 - 9:30
Orientation/Effective Practice/Instrument Care
 Monday/Wednesday/Friday
9:30 - 10:20
Instrument Class

Tuesday & Thursday
9:00 - 10:20
 Alexander Techniques

Monday-Friday
10:30-12:00
Chamber Groups
9:00-12:00
Solo Rehearsals (15 mins.)

12:00 - 12:45  Lunch Break

12:45 - 3:45
Orchestra Sectionals (Monday-Thursday)
Sightreading and/or Private Coaching (Monday-Thursday)
String Orchestra
Solo Rehearsals (15 mins.)

Friday Only
Solo Performance in Chamber Groups
 (dress rehearsal for concert in lieu of group blocks)

(tentative)
 Friday - Concert -  3 pm
 A celebration of all your hard work!  

This concert will be a relaxed and fun way to
      share all the music you have learned with

your invited friends and family.
 The concert is not open to the public.

Camp Fee $600 - Registration Deadline - May 31, 2020




 

Erin Macdinald - photo June 21 2018 IMG_


OVERVIEW

 

If you have been away from your instruments over the summer, this is your path back to readiness for fall ensemble playing.

The camp program aims to provide serious mature amateur string players with the opportunity to develop their performance skills in a relaxed and encouraging atmosphere. Persons playing at the upper intermediate level of study will find this camp the most rewarding. To assure small class sizes and ample individual  attention, enrolment is expected to be limited to a maximum of 12 participants.

Alexander Technique Sessions
In addition to instrumental classes, Erin will provide introductory instruction in the Alexander Technique.  Used worldwide by musicans, actors, dancers and other professionals, the AT is an educational method to learn how to use the primary instrumemt - the human body -  with more ease in everything we do.

Instrument Class
Group instruction on your instrument. Bring your questions! Focus will be on the principals of string playing. Tips and tricks to improve your instrumental skills.
 
Effective Practice
Learn how to practice effectively and productively, how to prepare new music, how to change old habits and how to improve memorization.

Instrument Care
Learn how to keep you instruments in top condition  including how to find out if your strings are too old and when your bow needs to be re-haired, why pegs slip, etc.


 

Orchestra/Orchestra Sectionals
Every camper will participate in the string orchestra conducted by Jonathan with other faculty assisting as side-by-mentors. Each instrument group will receive daily sectional coaching and the week will culminate in a group performance of selected repertoire.  

Chamber Music
Participants will be placed in one chamber ensemble for the week and will receive daily coachings with assigned faculty. Each group will learn and perform one movement of a work selected by faculty for the camp concert.  Music will be selected when registrations are complete and the skill levels of participants can be assessed for group placement.

        "They must learn how to listen to themselves for tone, pitch,

and  quality of sound, and to listen to others as they play to improve chamber music skills." - Laine Longton

Solo
Each camper is asked to select, in consultation with camp faculty, a short solo piece (2-4 min in length) with piano accompaniment at a level below their current playing level. Technically challenging pieces are to be avoided in order to concentrate on building confidence in their own sound and its projection.
 
Campers will receive daily collaborative coachings from Neal.  On Friday they will perform in their chamber group with the assigned chamber coach present to offer final coaching in prepartion for the afternoon's concert in which participation is not mandatory but  strongly encouraged.


 

String Ensemble Coach
String Orchestra Conductor

Jonathan Der,
M.Mus.

​

Der - Photo, portrait - Nov. 18 Facebook

Violist Erin Macdonald enjoys an active career as a freelance artist in the lower mainland, performing with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and other regional ensembles. Erin is a well established pedagogue with an extensive teaching background and is currentluy on faculty at the  Vancouver Academy of Music. Ms. Macdonald holds a Master of Music from the University of Ottawa, an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School, RCM Toronto and a B.Mus from the University of Victoria. Most recently, Erin graduated from the Ottawa School of the Alexander Technique and is a certified teacher under the auspices of CanSTAT.









 

 Violinist, conductor, chamber  musician and church  organist, Jonathan has appeared as soloist with various orchestras and gives regular chamber and solo concerts. He has performed in many cities in North American such as Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, New York, and in countries such as Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Since graduating with a Master of Music in Violin Performance from Indiana University, Jonathan has given masterclasses in many universities and became Assistant Violin Instructor at Indiana University. For the past 22 years, Jonathan has dedicated his time and energy to pedagogy:  his teaching philosophy focuses on how to connect the sound of the violin to one's soul. To date, he has developed many students who are now professionals with  major symphony orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Concertgebuow Orchestra and Berlin Philharmonic.  Other than teaching, he has adjudicated in many music festivals in the lower mainland such as the Richmond Music Festival, BC Conservatory Music Festival and North Shore Music Festival. He is currently the Music Director of the Coast Symphony Orchestra, Associate Conductor and Chamber Music coach for the Richmond Delta Youth Orchestra and the music director of St. Anne's Steveston Anglican church.




 

Neil  - photo from Barb Muir December 20
Laine Longton.jpg

Cello Specialist
Strings Ensemble Coach

Laine Longton,
M.Mus.

​

​

Laine Longton is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of British Columbia at UBC in Vancouver. She received her BMus from the University of Victoria and MMus from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). She has studied throughout North America and Europe with Gail O*Riordan (Victoria), Pamela Highbaugh Alone (UVic), Dmitry Kouzov (U of I), Martin Rummel (Germany and Swizerland), Guido Schiffon (Germany), and violinist D*nes Zsigmondy. Laine has been teaching since she was 19 throughout Victoria and Vancouver. She has taught at the Courtney Youth Music Camp and has been Director of Strings at UBC Summer Music Institute since 2014. Laine is currently a core member of the Vancouver Island Symphony in Nanaimo and plays frequently with Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra. She plays as a substitute cellist with Kamloops Symphony and the Vancouver Symphony. She also performs regularly with musical theatre productions throughout the Lower Mainland.



 

​

​

Strings/
Piano Collaboration

Dr. Neal Andrews,
D.M.A. (Brass)
LLCM, ARCT (Piano)
ARCT (Violin)

​

Following 10 years in the USA which concluded with receiving his doctorate in trumpet performance from Boston University, Neal returned to Canada and is on faculty at the Classical Music Conservatory in Toronto.  In addition to teaching, he performs regularly with various brass ensembles, bands and orchestras including the Weston Silver Band and the Hannaford Street Silver Band. Neal is an experienced violinist in both chamber and orchestral music as well as a piano collaborator. Edward Parker, the acclaimed Canadian pedagogue, called him a "one man conservatory". 

Camp Director and
Strings Coach

Erin Macdonald,
M. Mus.
Certified Teacher of the
Alexander Technique

​

camp-2020---poster(1) compressed.jpg
bottom of page