As June begins this week, our minds turn to the coming summer; visions of friends, barbecues, beaches and fun fill our heads. But the summer’s truest fans are kids, and as soon as the last bell rings on the final day of the school year, their freedom begins.
Some studies have suggested that during the summer kids can lose the equivalent of 2.6 months’ worth of what they learned over the school year. Keeping their minds working and agile can help fight this effect. Even though the text books are closed, and the school doors are closed, that doesn’t mean the learning has to be put on hold too. Don’t tell your kids of course, but the summer is a prime time for children to learn new lessons and develop a whole new set of skills; the trick is to present it to them in a way that doesn’t disrupt the fun and freedom they have been longing for since September. One of the most successful answers to this little dilemma is summer camp, and more specifically, summer music camp.
While many parents have fond memories of the summer camps of their youth, they might not realize how much of an impact those experience actually had on their youth. Most people remember the fun, but anyone that has spent time as a camp counselor or administrator can tell you summer camps have an education all their own, and the addition of music can only reinforce many of those lessons in a very discernible way.
Whether it’s a day camp or a sleep-away, every summer camp has a few fundamental benefits for kids. The first, which certainly isn’t exclusive to music camps, is the chance to unplug for a time. The world we find ourselves inhabiting today has us living networked, plugged-in lives, and while many of us learned to adapt to the new digital world, today’s kids were born into it. They use technology in every part of their lives, from socializing with their friends to completing school assignments. Many (perhaps most) summer camps now employ a “no electronics” policy, forcing children to take a “tech time-out” and focus on the actual world around them. When kids take a break from TV, cell phones, and Facebook, they are able to rediscover that incredible ability that often fades with age: creativity!
When allowed to flourish unplugged from the digital realm, and combined with the introduction of musical instruction, be it playing an instrument, singing, or even dance, a child’s creativity becomes a powerfully positive force. Through a primed creative mind music teaches a cornucopia of life skills that can be brought into other aspect of life. Two such skills, most usually attributed to sports, are teamwork and coordination. While it’s true that sports’ fans are quick to point out that hand-eye coordination is a skill learned on the field, hand, eye, body posture and thought all working together are fundamental to playing an instrument as well.
Similarly, competition is not the only way to feel like part of a team; collaboration works just as well. Every child wants to feel like they belong to a group, but not every child is inclined to play sports. Theory, music classes, and group performances are just as capable of bringing a group together in the bonds of camaraderie as playing in the big game.
Another benefit of summer music camps is the chance to build new relationships and friendships. It can be a little scary at first for a kid to come to a camp all by themselves, where they probably don’t know anyone, but that feeling quickly disappears with the excitement that begins on the first day. With social expectations and pressures lifted for the time being, summer camps offer an opportunity to build friendships with kids that might otherwise be outside a child’s standard cultural, social, or financial group. The informal environment allows kids to relax, let their guards down and make friends more easily. And when a common interest, say music, is added to that equation, those relationships have a stronger potential to grow and last.
Music has a wonderful ability to bring people together, but more than that, and perhaps on a more fundamental level, playing music can help to bridge the gap between two people. In much the same way two people who cheer for the same sports team can become instant friends, going through the novelties and challenges of learning to play an instrument or learning to perform a new musical piece can bring two kids together in a way that transcends anything that might have kept them apart in the “real world.”
In today’s digitally controlled world, a lot of a child’s self-confidence now comes from how many “likes” their Facebook posts get or how many followers they have on Instagram or Twitter. But when it comes to self-esteem, sometimes the old ways are the best ways. Things like Facebook likes and Twitter followers come and go, and in extreme but all too real cases, can severely effect a child’s sense of self-worth. However, confidence built on actual accomplishments creates a more solid foundation for the frailty of child and adolescent self-esteem. Being able to make the jump from learning notes and rhythms to producing meaningful musical compositions instills a strong sense of accomplishment, and since music is something not everyone does, it can also reinforce a feeling of individuality. Because these traits come from a specific skill, something they can keep practicing and improving upon, something much more tangible than the ever changing attitudes of the internet, children that make music an important part of their lives are building a stronger foundation of self-esteem than many of their non-musical peers, and are less likely to be crushed if someone “unfriends” them.
The benefits of a summer musical education can even go way beyond what some might consider obvious or common sense. In a post to postcity.com, Sivan Kerer references a study headed by Dr. Laurel Trainor of McMaster University. Dr. Trainor, a professor of psychology, neuroscience and behavior, explains that “learning a musical instrument is not easy. You have to produce a sound and monitor a sound and see if it produces the same sound the teacher is playing.” Her research strongly suggests that an education in music leads to improvement in IQ scores, memory, and problem solving. It is easy to see how these benefits might be “super charged” in a summer camp environment. With smaller groups than can be found in many classrooms today, and a full schedule of music related events every day, summer music camps are a concentrated dose of these all important life skills, presented in a manner in which kids don’t even realize they are learning social skills that will help them throughout the rest of their lives.
All said, music is a captivating and enriching experience, and its benefits to children are far reaching and go well beyond the few basic perks described here. Summer music camps combine all the best things parents remember about their own childhood camp experiences, from teambuilding and making new friends to building self-confidence, with the many educational and social skills music intrinsically offers, like problem solving and a sense of individuality.
Yes, it is true that a lot of these life skills can be learned in other places, like sports or other summer camps, but nothing truly affects a young life like the power of music. Not everyone can run fast, or throw a ball through a hoop, but everyone has some sort of musical ability, from drumming on the desk, to writing original compositions; music is a universal language that effects everyone on a deeply emotional level. It is never too late to introduce your kids to music, and it is never too late to reap the benefits.
The Music Studio offers four distinct musical camps for kids, including Music Theatre, Creative Arts, Rock Band, and Dance. Check out the links for more information!