“We chose John Williams because we wanted to play music from movies that these children watch,” said Bunker Hill’s Julie Lundgren, who conducted this year’s camp.

 

The camp culminated in a June 13 grand concert, where the students played the John Williams pieces that were taught at camp, along with more familiar pieces that they had also refined over the week.

 

As a special honor, the nine fifth-graders who attended this year, Rachel Grant, James Iler, Daniela Iglesias, Matthew Marion, Christopher Lao, Douglas Baker, Miller Kress, Iris Cronin, and Leela Rao, had the option of speaking at the concert. Additionally, two groups of more experienced campers performed more challenging pieces.

 

During the week, the students took four hours of lessons every day, followed by an hour at the Fonn Villas swimming pool. One hour every day was devoted to review, an hour to music theory and reading skills, another hour to learning the theme music, and finally, an hour-long master class, taught by professional violinists. The students were sorted into groups based on their playing experience and their age, and they attended each class with their respective groups.

 

“We are very careful to keep them within their playing levels, while letting them play a little above that sometimes,” Lundgren said.

 

To attend the camp, each one of the 64 campers had to pay a tuition fee of either $250 or $265, depending on SBISD residency. The expenses paid for 20 hours of professional violin instruction, lunch and snacks every day, plus pool time.

 

However, the camp also provided other forms of entertainment for the students during the week. In keeping with the theme, the camp brought in an Indiana Jones-like snake handler one day, a senior cellist from Memorial high school, and even Darth Vader made an appearance.

 

Because the students are in four hours of class every day, the staff really tries to promote the fun aspect of the camp as much as possible. “We focus on fun, but they work hard,” said Lundgren.