Note: The following is a guest post from Buell Cobb, author of The Sacred Harp: A Tradition and Its Music, and one of last year’s favorite Camp teachers.
Hearing recently that Camp registration is lagging a bit behind earlier years’ stimulated my busybody impulse… Surely, it occurred to me, there are great potential Camp registrants out there who just need a nudge… Specifically, those who would love this experience but who haven’t yet summoned the picture of the whole that makes it something you just have to borrow against—from your future, or your future savings…
I used to be such a person. A number of Camp veterans over a several-year period urged me to attend. I put them—and it—off. I was busy, committed elsewhere. Some more convenient time…
When what I actually lacked was a picture of what I was missing. That picture filled in for me compellingly two summers ago when, at David Ivey’s suggestion, I wandered up to take in a half-day of the Youth version at Camp Lee. I was pretty much bowled over. What a great bunch of kids (and others, including several senior citizens), and what fun they were having! Playing together, learning together, eating a boisterous meal together. And then, in the evening, what beautiful, spirited singing (in what a fantastic acoustical setting)! I was hooked.
Last summer, I took David up on an offer to “teach a few classes” at both the Adult and Youth Camps, though I had a heck of a time thinking of something I could helpfully impart. Both camps were near-transformative experiences for me. I loved the interaction with people from all over the country (and several from other countries). I relished, as I think surely everyone did, the opportunities to visit over meals, at break times—to absorb lessons and great observations from an all-star panel of teachers (just look at this list from the Adult Camp!): Warren Steel, Judy Hauff, Dan Brittain, Aldo Ceresa, Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg, Henry Johnson, Lela Crowder, Chloe Webb, Judy Caudle, Karen Rollins, Tom Malone, Robert Kelley, Samuel Sommers, Elder J. L. Hopper, Cassie Allen, Matt Hinton, David and Stuart Ivey.
And oh, the singing! At both camps. Wonderful, wonderful stuff. Night after night of it. (And this sandwiched between singings or conventions to attend before and after Camp.)
But I’m leaving out the obvious: It is, first of all, Summer Camp—without much, if any, of the famously woeful effects of Camp Granada (and to music from White, Walker and Reese instead of to the string-stabbing strains of Ponchielli). Both Camp McDowell and Camp Lee offer beautiful Alabama woodland. The everyone-pitch-in spirit is enough to jolt anyone out of the summer blahs (or being needlessly bogged down in oneself). It’s wholesome Americana—with one of America’s great music traditions. There’s a reason some people attend the camps year after year (and it’s not that they’re needful of that much instruction!). It’s that the experience is too much of a highlight to miss out on.
I’m tentatively lined up for two or three classes to conduct again this summer, including one in which I plan to share long (but not boring, I promise) reminiscences of two great Sacred Harp figures born in the last decade of the 19th century: Ruth Denson Edwards and Dewey President Williams (the RDE piece has new material from the one shared last year). I don’t know that the teacher line-up has solidified yet, but I know it will again be wonderful. All that seems to be needed at this point is another year’s all-star cast of registrants. You, in fact, may be all so far that’s missing… Can we please fix that?
This, then, is my hearty testimonial—but I’m good for more if anyone has questions or needs additional encouragement. If so, just holler at me offline. (I’m not an expert in the area of personal finances, but if that is the stumbling block for you, you might guess what I will be recommending as budget reallocation…) More technical questions (lodging, etc.) can be forwarded to camp@fasola.org. I’m including below David’s links to pages with registration information on each of this year’s three camp sessions.
Finally, to paraphrase a line from a song that Dewey Williams used to enjoy leading wherever he went: Let’s camp a while in the (beautiful) wilderness!
- Adult Emphasis (June 10–14, Camp McDowell, Double Springs, AL)
- Youth Emphasis (July 2–6, Camp Lee, Anniston, AL)
- Europe (September 17–21, Wichrowe Wzgórze, Chmielno Poland)
