On our Summer Musings page, musicians of various ages and at different stages in life share accounts of their past summer experiences. Read through if unsure of which program is for you.

This list gathers advice from Debbie Vine, Rozalyn Chok, Margaret Little, Avan Yu, and Aisslinn Nosky. If you have a past experience to share, why not do so? Email your thoughts to summer@thewholenote.com

Reflections of a Happy Camper

Debbie Vine

Driving home from Week One at the CAMMAC Ontario Music Centre camp, our family is listening to Hemp's Hump on our new funk CD. We are singing scat and improvising percussive sounds at the top of our lungs!! The jazz and world music week has altered our consciousness, opening us up in many different ways and allowing us to live life how it should be!

How should one greet the still of the day on the pastoral Lakefield campus? Perhaps listening to how the percussive and melodic sounds of the day fit together. Alternatively, with a Navajo chant of "Now I walk in Beauty" or the Arabic wedding song, complete with ululating.

Mornings rush by in a blur of technical and musical inspiration-choir for some, classes and practice sessions for all. One instructor's food for thought-"Do you have fun when you practice?"

The long, lazy summer afternoons are punctuated by yells and laughter from children of all ages playing outside, (finished their morning "music and more" program), gently guided and minded so parents can sleep, read, practice, compose or relax.

Musical theatre completes the afternoon, expanding our repertoire from Maria waltzing in the mountains to Sondheim's fractured fairy tale characters, killing, dying and philosophizing in the woods.

Finally the close of the day brings a time for sharing musical expertise and experimentation. One could call the concerts, evenings of contrast and evolution, moving from the precision of Bach's French Suite through explosive African dance, and drumming, musical travel through Sicily to the cacophony of "Dead Weasels Ripped my Flesh".

The return to the real world feels like a deafening silence.

Rozalyn Chok

(studying at Juilliard Conservatory in New York with Matti Raekallio).

"I got a relatively late start-by today's standards," Rozalyn says of her summer music involvement, which only stretches back to '07. "...it was not until my first summer program that I realized how exciting and energizing it is to be in an environment where everyone shares common interests and experiences."

Unhindered by the late start, she seems headed in the right direction-in recent years winning top prizes in the TSO Bosendorfer and the IIYM (International Institute for Young Musicians) piano competitions. But if she could start all over again, she'd send herself right back where she started, to IIYM, only "at a much earlier age... I was one of the older students."

Rozalyn appreciates the benefits of a solo performance program, but summer has brought home to her the value of the company of other musicians. "[My opinion of music has] changed from being a somewhat isolating, solitary pursuit to an invigorating dynamic choice. My interactions with other musicians through summer programs have led me to a deeper understanding of the relevance and importance of classical music."

And while the musical environment is of great importance, the natural environment itself isn't to be forgotten. "...the combination of quiet and the beauty of nature is extremely conducive to productive, inspiring practice," she says, recalling an experience at the Adamant Summer School in Vermont. "Located in the tiny town of Montpelier, Adamant is nestled amongst thickets of trees, wild flowers, and even running brooks. There are thirty practice cottages scattered throughout the forest, each with a Steinway grand piano and a uniquely decorated interior, complete with art on the walls and rustic furniture. Almost all of the participants agreed that we practiced more at Adamant than anywhere else, because the setting was so tranquil and idyllic."

Margaret Little

(viola da gamba player in duo Les voix humaines)

From age four to eighteen, Margaret spent her summers studying at CAMMAC Lake MacDonald, 80 minutes north of Montreal. "At CAMMAC you are either beginner, intermediate, or advanced for any course in particular. You just participate at whatever level you are and enjoy."

It was where she discovered the viola da gamba at age 11, which she has played ever since. From her numerous experiences at the camp, she observes: "Music and musicians cannot thrive in a stressful environment. Music is about people, about communicating, having a good time together, be it at any level."

Margaret continues her involvement at CAMMAC to this day as an instructor, where the open and wide-ranging setting allows her to extend her experience to both students and colleagues. With such a variety of mixed activities, it can't help but be inclusive. "Once you've spent a whole week with [others], playing tennis and ping pong with them, ... you meet in the concert hall and something very special happens. You've already shared so much that it's only natural to feel very connected during the performance."

And what else can one expect from a retreat up in the Laurentians? "No laundry or cooking to do, no tv, no radio, no computer, no phone, etc. Total disconnection is GREAT!"

Avan Yu

(studying at the University of Fine Arts in Berlin with Klaus Hellwig)

Avan is in concert throughout the year, giving a mix of solo and group performances. When the time arrives to choose a summer program, solo and group options are both equally attractive to him.

"I don't really have a preference," he says, having participated in several piano programs since 2001. "It depends on which area [I] want to focus on." Of the Young Artists Program in Ottawa, he recalls: "...my friends and I would actually sight-read until 2 o'clock in the morning! We didn't have schoolwork to worry about, and we could experience music in a relaxing setting."

The element of learning is never an exclusively solo experience, even in a solo program. "When I listened to other students' lessons or masterclasses, sometimes I learned more than if I were the student taking the lesson. When you are the one playing, you can get so stressed out trying to do what the teacher is telling you that you stop listening."

Learning with others and learning from them both appear to be valuable selections. "Summer programs are a great way to broaden your repertoire, share musical ideas with others, learn from great teachers and make good contacts." This time of the year brings a scenic change for Avan, with varied options as it is during the year. Solo or with others, he's in a change of place-though never out of place.

Aisslinn Nosky

(violinist with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, I FURIOSI Baroque Ensemble, Eybler Quartet, and Kirby String Quartet)

Aisslinn's early summers were quite distinct from one another, bringing her to places all over Canada as well as south of the border.

"I feel very lucky to have gone to so many fun music programs as a child, [but] I was a pretty single-minded young person...if I could go back, I think I would tell myself to go to a camp that had nothing to do with music, or at least something that wasn't violin, just to broaden my extra-musical horizons a little." That said, she wouldn't remove her later teenage self from repeated musical visits to the Banff Centre, where she would "get inspiration for the rest of the year."

Having gained so much as a student, Aisslinn in turn runs a program with fellow Kirby Quartet members Julia Wedman, Max Mandel, and Carina Reeves. The week-long chamber music workshop allows her to maintain her summer involvement from a teaching role. "When all the students perform the works they have been pouring their heart and souls into [it] is invariably the most moving concert I attend all year."

As it had been at Banff, it appears as though Aisslinn is once again inspired by her musical endeavours of the summer.