<p>My daughter got a scholarship that covered about 1/4 of the cost the first time she attended a festival-very expensive that year. Her high school also awarded her their orchestra scholarship (bringing it down about $500.00 more). The second year at this festival, she got one of the “special” scholarships and ended up having 3/4 covered. A similar thing happened with my son when he first began attending festivals. I noticed that once D had gotten her first scholarship, each year was successively less expensive. He last year of auditioning, she finally got into a free one!</p>
<p>Hornet, that is very encouraging! </p>
<p>Cellomom6 and greatchoir: here are some other ideas. If your child’s teacher is a member of the local music union, their students might be eligible for small scholarships for camp. Also, sometimes organizations that hold local music competitions offer scholarships to kids who participated but didn’t win: they are often listed on the website of the organization hosting the contest. Talk to you child’s teacher to see if he/she has any ideas or can help. Our teacher would appeal to his contacts in the local orchestra philanthropic circles for support for his students accepted into pricey camps. I don’t know if it’s been said, but Interlochen has the Emerson and Fennel scholarships and BUTI offers scholarships. There’s no way we could have afforded camp without these. Best wishes!</p>
<p>dec51995: those are great ideas, thank you! I don’t know if the union piece applies, but certainly the philanthropic circle bit does, so I will judiciously inquire. </p>
<p>You could always ask businesses for sponsorship. I used to do outside sales. It’s pretty easy. I think we’re opting out of longer camp otherwise we’d be doing that.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the National and Letters Society. They have competitions each year for scholarship money. I don’t know much about. Looks like it is primarily winds and voice: <a href=“Competitions for Young Artists — National Society of Arts and Letters”>http://arts-nsal.org/competitions/performing-arts-competitions/</a></p>
<p>Thanks for all the suggestions! Clearly, we have a lot to learn about this terrain and the sharing is much appreciated. </p>
<p>DS just got off the waitlist at Aspen! Choices to make!</p>
<p>I just had to decline for a music festival due to finances. Very sad. I think it is the right choice, but still sad. Its tough not qualifying for any financial aid for need scholarships only. They did offer a small amount. It was a nice gesture. How does everyone afford these expensive camps? My husband has a good job, but we still choke at the prices of the camps/festivals.</p>
<p>I can sympathize, cellomom6! My S turned down a partial scholarship one year because we couldn’t afford the remainder. He stayed home that summer, practiced, reapplied, and won a free trip to camp the next year. He had a wonderful time, and I can’t help but think it might have been because he had to work so hard for it. My younger D has dreamed of going to music camp since we dropped my S off, but she’s not the musician her brother is and can’t count on winning a merit scholarship. She’s working and saving now as an 8th grader in hopes of going to camp one summer in high school. Maybe our kids will have a leg up in figuring out creative ways to do the music they love. </p>
<p>A good point. And maybe with the extra preparation for auditions his merit scholarships will be higher next year </p>
<p>We got around the ‘expensive camp’ issue by the fact that my son only applied to those camps that we could afford (as even scholarship money sometimes still doesn’t make it affordable enough) or that were free of charge. Often this meant only shorter camps–one or two weeks only. I don’t feel his not attending long, expensive camps made any difference in his musical growth nor future acceptances. He learned immense amounts from shorter camps, had great experiences, could sometimes attend more than one in a summer, and in between had time to practice and incorporate what he had learned. So, not everyone does expensive summer camps. There are many ways to spend a summer and still grow as a musician and have quality musical experiences. </p>
<p>I agree- my husband and I made huge sacrifices some years to send our daughter to longer camps. She had some good experiences, but in retrospect I don’t think the camps made a big impact on her development. In one case, an expensive camp was overall damaging, as the teacher was offended when she did not apply to his college studio. I still regret the money we spent on that, which could have been used to pay tuition (instead of loans) or for house repairs. </p>
<p>The one exception was the two-week kids’ chamber camp (Kinhaven) that she attended for several years when she was little. That experience was life-changing, and made her certain that she wanted to pursue music. </p>
<p>The price of the camps has gotten ridiculous - $8,000 for 6 weeks at Interlochen? Plus there’s airfare if you’re going someplace far. On the other hand, the experience was life changing - and my son said he found more friends there than he did in high school. I think it’s a great experience. I’ve started a music scholarships thread over on the scholarship part of this forum which has made me feel much better about this as an investment.</p>
<p>My daughter is still best friends (and roommates) with kids she met at Kinhaven when she was ten. :)</p>
<p>Interlochen parents-I have some shirts in pretty good shape if anyone needs them. Mens M (maybe 1 youth XL
I will say that DDs summer at Interlochen was worth every penny we had to scrape up (she got scholarship but for us it was still difficult) Not becasue of the leaps and bounds in her musicianship, but for the leaps and bounds in her confidence and that she realized there were other kids who lived and breathed music as she did and made more and better friends in 6 weeks than in the 14 years we’ve been in this town…</p>
<p>My son loved Interlochen, also. He was astounded to find so many friends with intense interest in music. It was his first summer away from home all by himself, and he grew up immensely! Learned to do laundry, learn to be independent. He came back a different kid.</p>
<p>Just back from dropping DD off at her music fest. So excited for her–she seemed a little nervous, but very excited. I have a good feeling about this. Anybody else just back from the pack up/send off? </p>
<p>Older son has been at Brevard (colllege division) for a week and having a great time. Played in orchestra accompanying Perlman Sat. and enjoyed working with him. Younger son off to Tanglewood on Sunday. Neither of my kids have ever liked the first day(s) or so of downtime at these camps while they do seating auditions, etc. and cannot wait for regular schedule to begin. I think they are all a little nervous when they go to a new program for first time. </p>
<p>Dropped S off at Aspen last week for his 3rd summer music experience. I always forget how nervous and crabby he is when he’s dropped off at a new place. He called Thurs night–was so happy to be there. I’m excited for him, too. </p>