By: Chris “Topher” Aderhold
No doubt about it – the Music activity was a favorite this summer!
It didn’t matter if I was down at Lake Jake, on top of the climbing tower, inside the office, or over yonder at the horse stables – when mornings during Summer Camp approached approximately 10:40am, I would drop everything and make my way toward the basketball court (the BBC).
You see, everyday between approximately 9:50am – 10:50am, a different gaggle of campers would gather with staffer Ryan to write fresh, original, and catchy tunes. To the credit of Ryan and the campers, they would write and rehearse a song in less than an hour, at which time I’d make my way to the group to hear the latest song. Ryan, I might add, held the position of “Music Surgeon” this past summer. It’s quite possible that there’s never been a job title that was more fitting for anyone ever.
Each morning during Summer Camp at Camp Gray, campers take part in Pods. There are four Pods – one for each morning – and every Pod has three options of activities. Campers get to choose two of the three activities per day. A popular activity in the ‘Discovery Pod’ is “MUSIC!” During the Music activity, campers collaborate with CG staffers to create fun and catchy songs.
As you can imagine, when 2-18 campers come together to write a song with a Camp Gray staffer (or three), these songs can be incredibly random (in fact, a line from one song goes, “This is a random song, we will sing it all day long.” Another random line from a different song was the inspiration for the title of this blog post…) However, this is what makes the Music Mondays franchise so fun and unique.
Similar to last summer, many of these songs were videoed, and for the next many Mondays (starting September 16th!) we’ll be premiering one new video per week on the CG YouTube Channel! If you’ll recall, last fall we launched Season One of Music Mondays. Though Season One only consisted of 12-episodes, those videos have over 2,500 total views. Season One had such hits “Brad Ate a Bunny,” “Meet the Camp Gray Staff,” & “I’m the Man, Man, Man.”
I invite you – Nay, I encourage you! – to tune in each Monday for the soon-to-be-award-winning Season Two of Music Mondays. It’ll make you laugh; it’ll make you laugh some more, and Season Two will have twice as many episodes as Season One.
Big thanks to the campers for their creativity and excitement during the Music activity. Also, special thanks to Ryan, PhD., for showing great precision and care in the department of creating masterful music. Several other staffers contributed each day, as well, and for your help, we thank you! See you Monday!
Thanks for tuning into yet another installment of Tuesdays with Topher. Come on back next Tuesday to read about our recent 60th Birthday Bash!
Peace!
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