<p>My daughter's private teacher has suggested that she consider a summer music festival next year. She's 12 now, so will only be 13 next year. Most of the festivals I've looked at start at age 14 or 15. I looked at Interlochen for her last year, but we decided on NEMC, in part because the ensembles are not age segregated. It worked well for my daughter to be able to play with older kids and socialize with girls her own age. </p>
<p>So far, the only festival I've found that will consider a younger student is Tanglewood, though she'd have to live off campus. I think I could manage that for the two-week instrument institute, though not for the longer orchestra festival. (And I also think that living off campus with Mommy all summer is neither the developmental experience I'd like for my daughter nor her idea of a great time.) Considering the unpredictable nature of admission by audition recording, it does seem that we should have eggs in other baskets as well. </p>
<p>Do any of you know of any festivals that will take a younger wind player? </p>
<p>Have you looked into Kinhaven Music School in Vermont? Your daughter would need to be in 8th grade this year to be eligible for Senior Session. It is a six-week long program. </p>
<p>Kinhaven’s Junior Session is two weeks for grades 4-7 unless you are a wind player (or violist, etc) in which case you can be a year older. My daughter went to Junior Session as a violist the summer between 8th-9th grade. She wasn’t ready to be away from home for 6 weeks, so this program was perfect for her.</p>
<p>She was placed in a cabin with other girls her age; most were violists or wind players. Her best friend from that program was an oboist her age. Everyone plays in the orchestra in a rotating manner, and chamber groups are arranged according to ability. I think your daughter could be sufficiently challenged for the two weeks, as well as being nurtured as a young musician.</p>
<p>Greenwood is a similar program in Massachusetts, but I don’t have any personal information about it. There are lots of good programs out there, good luck!</p>
<p>Interlochen Arts Camp might be worth looking into as well. The Intermediate division is for middle school students, and there are two 3-week sessions. </p>
<p>I have 2 string kids, one that did 3 years of Greenwood Junior, 2 years of Kinhaven Senior and Tanglewood 6 weeks. Loved them all. Other kid did Interlochen 6 weeks orchestral as well as Apple Hill, Brevard and several years at Point CounterPoint Chamber Music. I love Kinhaven for younger kids. High level of play without the competitive atmosphere. Greenwood was also wonderful… Kinhaven had high level of play, great teachers and was very nurturing. Greenwood is as well but Kinhaven was life changing for my kid. When my son was at Greenwood it felt a little competitive. Great faculty at Kinhaven. Do not know much about the junior session but have heard only great things. </p>
<p>I don’t know your daughter’s level or instrument but I’d second Kinhaven for a younger student. Three of my kids attended. One went for 5 summers, returning to play viola (she is a violinist) after 7th and 8th grade for the chamber experience. I’ve hear great stuff about Greenwood, too, but my kids loved Kinhaven so much they never applied. I agree, sending a young kid into an unmoderated situation with older students can be traumatic.</p>
<p>Credo festival in Oberlin is a 3 week chamber musical festival, age 13- 23. There is a spiritual component that is
nondenominational and a service component. It is a wonderful program, my son has attended twice. He was older when he attended but my feeling is that it is a well supervised, nuturing program where a 13 year old would feel comfortable and welcome. The faculty is awesome, can’t say enough good things about this program!</p>
<p>The David Einfeldt Chamber Music Seminar offered through the Hartt School also offers a two week independent program, although it may focus only on strings.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info. She’s in 7th grade now, so she’d be an intermediate at Interlochen or a junior at Kinhaven or Greenwood. I researched all of these last year, and decided on NEMC, in part because she’s used to playing with high school kids and the structure of their program allows her to bunk with peers and play with older kids. I guess I never stopped following Kinhaven on Facebook, and I will say that the kids in their photos all look very happy, which is a big plus in my book. She would love to go back to NEMC, and I generally can’t see switching her from there to be in a middle school program elsewhere. My research now is at the encouragement of her private teacher, who would prefer something with more caché than NEMC. I’m not sure Kinhaven or Greenwood would fit that particular bill. </p>
<p>cellocompmom,</p>
<p>I did have her look at Apple Hill this afternoon. She went through all the music assignments for this past year, but she didn’t seem enthusiastic, mostly because there were only a small handful of woodwinds (and no brass at all, so no horn to make up a full WWQ), and the typical age breakdown is a bit unclear. </p>
<p>2scoutsmom,</p>
<p>I went to Blue Lake myself. It’s a fun program, but age segregated and not serious enough musically for my daughter.</p>
<p>Cellomom2,</p>
<p>Credo doesn’t seem to have a faculty member for her instrument, just strings and flute.</p>
<p>I don’t know about cachet, but Kinhaven’s pretty high level for young chamber musicians*. My daughter and her friends who went there all ended up at Juilliard, Curtis, NEC, CIM, Colburn, etc. Many have won international competitions. Of my daughter’s current peers at Juilliard, many went to Greenwood. She just spent the summer at one of the premier chamber music programs in the US, and many of the young artists there are alums of Greenwood and Kinhaven. These places instill a deep love of chamber music. I don’t know if you can do much better than that.</p>
<p>One of my kids went to Apple Hill at 12 or 13 and disliked playing with older students (and I mean mixed groups including adult amateurs.) They have an interesting mission and a good vibe, but it’s not as serious musically and not (IMO) the ideal place for a very young chamber player.</p>
<p>Another option for her could be the 2-week Sejong festival at Curtis in mid-August, but I do believe the moms or dads of younger students come along to the festival. Nice place with very high level faculty.</p>
<hr>
<p>*Yes, of course there are always some kids who are recreational players, but the faculty knows how to construct ensembles so that the kids remain challenged.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info on Apple Hill. I think that was my daughter’s concern. She was looking at the ensemble lists and seeing names like George, Vera, MaryAnn . . . </p>
<p>Sejong is for strings. She plays the oboe. </p>
<p>Older son did both Luzerne which he did not like much at all and Apple Hill. I would not send a younger kid to Apple Hill. The kid who went was 18 at time and thought it was fine, not great</p>
<p>Lol, George, Vera, and MaryAnn may come back in style as baby names, but not for a while. By then our own kids’ names will make them sound as old as Myrtle and Flossie.</p>
<p>I feel like I’m shooting everything down (even before I bring in the kid, who says absolutely no to Interlochen’s intermediate program … because of the socks), but I really do appreciate the advice and expertise you’ve all shared here.</p>
<p>I received a very nice (two page, single spaced!) progress report from her oboe teacher at NEMC today. I really do appreciate the level of attention that’s available at a smaller camp. My daughter went to a preschool kindergarten that focused on social skills and leadership qualities, and did much less academic work than she’d have done in public kindergarten. In first grade at public school, she jumped right into the top spot of her class academically, even though the other kids had had an academically stronger kindergarten. I believe she was better served at that stage by focusing on the right aspects of her development at the right time. Not sure I’m making sense, but there’s definitely a balancing act here between musical development and personal development.</p>
<p>I’m sure if she’d gone to Kinhaven first, she’d want to go back. It looks like a great place, especially for young string players.</p>
<p>Fortunately, NEMC excels in personal development opportunities as well as affording her the chance to play with older kids, which seems to be important for a wind player who is ahead of the curve. </p>
<p>We love Walden School in Dublin NH but it is a composition program with performance opportunities. Family-like, 6 weeks. Many who go are instrumentalists, not composers, and write their first piece. It increases understanding of music but I don’t think there are any private lessons for instruments. Just a thought.</p>
<p>Yet another vote for Kinhaven. Our violinist has attended senior session for 2 years. and has definitely drunk the Kinhaven Kool-aid. We have several friends with students who’ve attended junior session and become similarly immersed. </p>
<p>The music level at Kinhaven’s junior session is quite high; I’d hazard that it is at least as high as many others in which there is a mix of middle-and-high-schoolers (and the socks, and the rigidity they implied, were a turn off for mine for Interlochen as well). </p>
<p>The level of playing at the senior session is quite high also (think Mahler 1, Tchaik 4 and 5, Shostakovich 5 for orchestra, for example, rehearsed and performed in the space of a week or two, in addition to chamber and choral repertoire and performances). But it is the atmosphere of collaboration and collegiality that makes it as special a place as it is for the kids. There is also a lot of time for personal pursuits, as non-music time is fairly flexible (unlike a more traditional camp style program like NEMC, with which we are also familiar).</p>
<p>Thanks. I didn’t realize Yellow Barn starts at 13. We may look into that. Looks like it runs the same weeks as the Tanglewood oboe institute, and she might opt for Tanglewood if she gets in, but auditions are unpredictable, so it’s always a good idea to pursue more than one avenue. Last year they offered a live audition not far from us, which is probably worth doing for the experience in any case.</p>
<p>Yellow Barn YAP is very, very high level chamber and it is difficult to get into, my S did it a couple of years. It is especially difficult for very young students, they usually only have a small handful of high school aged musicians, it is mostly college aged now (in effect, YAP seems to be moving more towards being for college age kids, and the senior yellow barn is becoming late college and grad IME).On the other hand, if the person applying wants a serious music experience, you can’t get much better than YB, it is not summer camp ish (though they do have recreation, non music stuff, social stuff). </p>