Otterbein Summer Music Experience

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a part of a college music program? Surround yourself with other students who share your passion and energy for music. Develop new insights into yourself as a musician and a performer. Challenge yourself in a week of intensive, real-world music study. Build your confidence through collaboration with other serious musicians.

We are excited to offer our eleventh annual summer music camp at Otterbein University, June 10 – 15, 2024 (overnight campers will arrive the evening of June 9). The camp welcomes composers, pianists, guitarists, singers, players of string, wind, brass, and percussion instruments.

Daily one-on-one instrumental or vocal lessons will be combined with a variety of course offerings. Our classes will focus on improvisation, theory and ear-training, musicians’ health, music technology and music history (popular and classical music).

Event Details
Time 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Location Battelle Fine Arts Center, 170 W. Park Street, Westerville, OH 43081
Director Dr. Nicholas Ross, Director of Keyboard Studies, Otterbein University
For students Rising 9 – 12 graders (singers must be at least 15 years old)
Tuition $525 (commute), $650 (overnight stay)
Priority Scholarship Deadline April 15, 2024
Final Application Deadline May 24, 2024

Program Director: Dr. Nicholas Ross
Phone: 614-823-1219
Email: summermusic@otterbein.edu

Otterbein Summer Music Experience Camp

Courses You’ll Explore

Private Lessons
Daily lessons with Otterbein’s professional music faculty will allow you to apply what you are learning in your class work. Areas of specialization: Strings, Winds, Brass, Percussion, Guitar, Voice, Piano, and Composition, in classical and/or jazz/commercial styles.

Music History
Wide-ranging topics include Classical Music, Popular Music, Jazz, and Rock and Roll. Learn about how music of the past continues to influence current trends in composition and performance.

Improvisation for Classical Musicians
Participants with primarily classical training will learn to free themselves from the printed score and develop new creativity, emotional range, freedom of expression, spontaneity, listening skills, imagination, risk taking, and collaborative skills. Develop insights into the composition process through experimentation with musical elements: melody, harmony, rhythm, tone, form, tempo and dynamics.

Performance Enhancement
Who doesn’t want more freedom in performance? Develop skills to control anxiety, improve focus and concentration, and feel grounded during performance. Participants will find and use the drama in music to enhance their own emotional connections to the music, and will challenge and broaden their concept of the audience’s role in a live performance.

Music Theory
Learn about the building blocks of music: melody, harmony, scales, chords, rhythm, texture, structure and form, dynamics, and tempo, and how to use these elements to deepen your knowledge and understanding of music.

Digital Music
This course will be an exploration of different ways to create music using computers. Topics will be driven by the interest of the class, to be drawn from notation using MuseScore, recording and digital audio manipulation, synthesizing sound, music programming, and making live electronic music using sensor inputs.

Musician’s Warm-up
Prepare for your day with a class that awakens and creates new connections in the brain, integrates the senses and centers the mind and body though movement and meditation, while exploring the essential balance between effort and relaxation.

How to Apply

To apply to the camp, please send us a YouTube link or mp3 recording of a recent performance containing two or more contrasting pieces via email to Director Dr. Nicholas Ross at summermusic@otterbein.edu. Once you have been accepted into camp, you will receive a link to register and pay for Otterbein’s Summer Music Experience camp online.

For More Information

Questions can be directed to Lindsay Cunningham at 614-823-1219 or summermusic@otterbein.edu.

Otterbein University reserves the right to accept or reject any application or registration and expel any student whose conduct is detrimental to the other students, according to the camp director’s judgment. Otterbein reserves the right to cancel the camp due to insufficient enrollment or just cause.