Published: July 03, 2009 01:11 pm      

Playing the part

Chamber Music Week takes select musicians to next level

BY RUTH RICE

RRICE@TRIBDEM.COM

This music camp will teach a select group of string and piano students how to play together.

The fifth annual Chamber Music Week, sponsored by the Chamber Orchestra of the Alleghenies, will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. July 27-31 at Richland High School Performing Arts Center, One Academic Ave., Richland Township.

Beth Pile, a member of Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and president of the chamber orchestra, said the camp would be good for students in seventh grade up to high school seniors.

“It depends on their skill level because it can get intense,” Pile said. “We will have one student who graduated this year. They know their part, but we teach them to put the parts together.“

Pile said 14 students will be in camp this year, coming from Westmont Hilltop, Greater Johnstown, Somerset Area and Richland school districts.

“The first couple of years we had 20, but we started out with specific students in mind,” she said. “After they graduated, that died out.”

The camp is open to any student in any school district, and applications are available up until Friday by calling Pile at 445-3221.

Scholarships to cover part of the $300 tuition are available through a grant from the Benjamin Bosler Fund, which is part of the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies.

For the third year, The Mendelssohn Piano Trio from the Washington, D.C., area will work with the students.

“They’re good with the kids,” Pile said. “They’re able to take them at the level where they are. They get more intense, showing them how to get the best sound from their instruments or how to get a specific sound.”

The trio will come to the camp July 29, after members of the chamber orchestra have worked with the students for two days on the basic music.

There will be groups of two to three people with combinations of different instruments, all playing their different parts at the same time.

“We mix it up so they get a different experience,” Pile said.

“It inspires leadership.”

The trio will work with the students July 29-31, giving a free concert that is open to the public at 7 p.m. July 29 at the performing arts center.

After working on their music the entire week, the students will present a free concert at 7 p.m. July 31.

“We don’t work for eight hours on one piece,” Pile said.

“We have fun too, getting outside to play Frisbee or doing something music-related like composing.”