Day 5 - Singing and Stargazing
Campers in Deer pod were awoken bright and early at 7:30 this morning to the sounds of birds and trees swaying in the wind. Breakfast arrived at 7:45 and campers had their bellies filled by delicious frittatas, muffins, and fresh fruit. Thanks Farleys!
After a delicious breakfast, tents were broken down, teeth were brushed, and they all headed down to the amphitheater for rehearsal. Running through the music they began on Monday, it felt like a dream that it had only been five days and the singers were already so solid on their work!
After a quick break came elections for the leadership team. Consisting of four people, the leadership team is in charge of bonding, communication, and representing the group while being dedicated and role models for their fellow peers. After anonymous voting, campers crafted a bit and returned to rehearsal, starting a new piece sung in French!
At noon campers were greeted by their parents and soon after Salmon pod arrived. Rehearsal went swimmingly, and during break they similarly voted for the leadership elections. Rehearsal resumed after, practicing songs that were to be performed for a later event.
At the end of rehearsal came tent building! Utilizing their problem solving skills and trying not to whack each other with tent poles, the tents were set up in no time, thus commencing night activities. Yummy Ethiopian food was served for dinner followed by a fun game of Quarantine Bingo, crossing off each zoom or food related activity campers got up to in the past year and a half. Recital was a joy this evening, with performances of original songs from Voice Teacher Katy and Counselor Maddie. Voice Teacher Tim and counselor Emily also performed a couple of camp favorites, and campers Kailamae, Larissa and Lucy also got to perform. All their performances drew laughs and thoughtfulness with a repertoire full of work practiced in voice lessons, newly written music, and even poetry. You can watch videos of recital at the link below.
And then came our “campfire”, a big camp tradition where campers usually throw a stick in the campfire with all of their intentions for the year. Though there was no large campfire this year, the campers all spoke and giggled through their intentions for the upcoming choral season. After warming up from the cold with some hot cocoa, a small concert followed for an event held for the friends of the choir, it was emotional watching the first ever concert since January 2020! And the singers were wonderful - see the link below for a video!
Then it was time for stargazing! The night was clear this evening so campers were lucky enough to look through all three telescopes! They were able to see star clusters, planets, and more, all the while learning about our vast galaxy from the incredible staff at Chabot. We thanked our hosts with a song and quickly went off to get ready for bed with campers falling asleep to the traditional choir camp songs sung at vespers.
