Thank You for the Music

Everyone can sing. This is the motto of the song and dance camp, Summer Show-Offs, that I have been blessed to work at the past two summers. Anyone that knows me knows that the only kind of singing camp that I could be a part of is one with a motto like that. With little to no musical background or training, working and teaching at a day camp where children learn four dances and five songs in four short days has been an experience like no other. It’s been like jumping into a cold pool off the diving board instead of easing into the pool on the shallow end. One second you’re dry and the next you’re head-first in cold water, and it’s sink or swim.

Before you question the legitimacy of a musical camp that would hire a ‘non-musical’ person, let me say that there are extremely talented staff-members on board. It’s a privilege to work along side some of the most talented dancers, vocalists, choreographers, and show people in the country. When I was standing on that diving board staring down at the summer job ahead of me, I kept asking myself why on earth, with all of that talent at their finger tips, Mrs. Cecile and Mrs. Robyn, the camp’s owners, would hire me along with them. I love to sing, I love to dance, but I lack the usual qualities that make someone ‘talented’ in those areas: pitch, a musical ear, range, coordination, etc. But after two summers fully submerged and jamming to that irresistible beat, I finally get it. They hired me and others like me because they understand the goal of the camp, and more importantly, they understand music itself.

Every week at Summer Show-Offs, I help almost forty third and fourth graders to put on a show, complete with props, formations, five songs, four dances, and forty solos, in four days. And let me be the first to tell you, it’s a good show. But parents don’t sacrifice a considerable chunk of money to see a good show on Friday. They don’t pay to have their kids occupied from 9 to 2 during the week. There are much cheaper ways of accomplishing those ends. They pay because of the gifts of confidence and character that music brings to their precious children. This music changes lives.

There is something surreal about how music touches a person. Listening to a song can change our mood in a matter of seconds. It can comfort us. It gives so many gifts to the listener, whether it’s the beautiful poetry of words in a song, a delightful combination of notes that both soothes and rejuvenates, or dancers and colors moving along with the music that both enhances and completes it. What we are doing when we teach children to sing and dance, or like at Summer Show-Offs when they get to do both in the form of a show, is we are handing them one of the most powerful tools in the world. We are giving them something that relentlessly blesses others, and filling them up with it so that they can give it right back. Rarely do we trust eight and nine year olds with things of importance. But when we entrust them with music, a song to sing, a dance to dance, we give them the precious chance to be givers in a world where up to that point in their lives they’ve had to be mostly takers. Children thrive on this trust. It draws out every desire to give and to bless that they have in their beautiful hearts. It impresses upon them the nudge of responsibility that pushes them towards discipline. We give them every tool and training needed to have a perfect show on Friday, they need only work hard and do their best. And it is hard work, much harder than what is normally asked of kids their age. But nothing compares to the overwhelming feeling of confidence that each child is blessed with on Friday after they have not only completed the goals set for them and done their best but after they have had the chance to pour out themselves on stage with the gift of music.

Music does not discriminate. Everyone can sing, as the camp’s founder Cecile Martin always says, just like everyone can jog. Everyone that can walk can jog, but not everyone can sprint or run a marathon or jog for a long period of time. Similarly, not everyone has Mariah Carey’s range or Norah Jones’ soothing voice or Michael Jackson’s dance moves. But everyone can sing and everyone can dance. Luckily for me, I’m part of the ‘everyone’. There are songs I can sing and dances I can dance and therefore a gift that I can give through music. That is one of the beauties of being human. Making music is such a broad concept that uses so many different talents. It teaches you to find yours, use it, do your best at the rest, and work with others of different and, more often than not, better talent. And that’s what kids (and myself) learn at Summer Show-Offs. Music cannot be about one person. If there is a show that seems to have a star, that star would not be as wonderful without it’s background singers or supporting roles. Music is a gift.

Music is pouring out yourself and working harmoniously with other people who are pouring out their own gifts in order to bless an audience, whether it’s an audience of one or of one thousand. Music is about people. Mrs. Cecile and Mrs. Robyn weren’t crazy for hiring people like me after all. I love people and especially kids, and at the end of the day that’s all that matters and all that music itself cares about.

Music has changed my life in so many ways through this camp. So many times people look at music as the opposite of athleticism or ‘brains’, as something that is one category that part of the population can fit into. This could not be farther from the truth. Everyone can be blessed by music and everyone can bless others by music. Maybe not in the same way as others, but everyone can. The notes I sing might be simple and unimpressive, but paired with an exquisite melody and lovely instruments I can help to create a product that is beautiful beyond compare. Don’t ever be afraid of music or stay away from it simply because you have not been labeled ‘musical.’ Sing your song and dance your dance, and give the gift that God has given you to the rest of the world. Give children the gift and the responsibility of music. This is what Summer Show-Offs has taught me.

So, Mrs. Cecile and Mrs. Robyn and music-givers everywhere, thank you for the music. Thank you for giving me and every single camper that walks through your door the tools and the opportunity to give such a powerful gift to others. Thank you for recognizing every part in a song or a dance or a show as important, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. Thank you for valuing every person, every note, every grape vine, and every gift. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the music and for giving it to me.