The end of May Is quickly approaching, and with it, the warm weather of the summer months. For many parents, these last few weeks have had them thinking about getting their children ready to participate in some kind of summer camp. A summer camp is an amazing way for any child to spend their vacation! Any summer camp is a great place to make new friends, learn new skills, have tons of fun, and make sure that those summer months aren’t wasted sitting in front of one screen or another.

And what’s more, there are as many different kinds of summer camps out there as there are different kinds of kids, and each one offers a different set of adventures, activities, environments, and even benefits.

So, yes, as you’ve probably guess by now, this week’s topic is the many benefits your little ones can gain from participating in a summer music camp!

Build Independence

Most summer camps, regardless of the overarching topic, can help children build up a sense of their own independence and self-reliance. In fact, many summer camp activities are specifically geared towards this goal, allowing the campers a safe environment to take on new personal challenges, and make new friends. In a musical setting, this can also mean the opportunity to tackle new musical challenges.

Students that might be traveling, and will therefore be a bit further away from the safety net of their parents have an even greater opportunity to learn about their independence and self-reliance as an individual, as a performer, and as a member of a group .

Experience New Things

New and exiting experiences have a tendency to imprint themselves in our memories quite easily, and go on to influence the way we think about them in the future, remember them, and even how we act going forward. The best music summer camps are places for your child to make new friends, play new music, and gain inspiration to continue to play well after the camp has come to an end. The memories and friendships they form can last their entire lifetime, and can help to inspire them to develop further, both socially, as well as musically.

Build Confidence

Helping children build up their self-confidence and -esteem is something that pretty much all summer camps, regardless of the specific topic, can boast. Helping children improve their self-confidence over the summer isn’t a terribly difficult recipe: get a group of similarly-aged children, give them an activity they can all excel at together (in this case, music), add a dash of fun, and shake vigorously.

Building self-esteem through sports comes from both individual skill as well as working with your team towards the same goal, to win the game. Science or academic camps try to build self-esteem through knowledge and discovery. Music combines all of these aspects into one magical activity. Children work hard to learn their part, so they can be part of the whole, while also learning the foundations of creating music, and discovering passion within themselves. It does all this through self-expression, something other summer camps don’t always focus on. Music can be a powerful force of expression, allowing us to get our emotions out when words just wont do. And learning this skill early can be valuable later in life.

Build Social Skills

As it turns out, that whole collaboration thing is pretty important later in life. Most summer camps give the opportunity to make new friends, to be part of a team, and to accomplish things together, but making music as a group is truly something special. Music hones teamwork skills and mental discipline. If the band is going to sound good, everyone must work together harmoniously towards a single goal: the performance. Everyone comes together to make a promise to one another to learn the music, practice, and have the best performance they can. They learn to accept constructive criticism from the band leader, as well as each other, without taking it personally.

As an interesting cherry on top of the basic social skills that are learned through playing and learning as a group, music tends to have an unexpected effect on some grander social issues, specifically, how children perceive and talk about other cultures. Music gives a unique glimpse into all kinds of cultures different from our own, and children who study music early are introduced to these cultures in an exciting and engaging way. These kids learn to empathize with other cultures, fostering the development of compassion and empathy, rather than greed and a “me first” attitude. Classroom studies suggest music’s introduction to other cultures helps children bridge cultural gaps with ease, leading to respect for all peoples at an early age.

Performance Skills

Summers are usually marked by a certain amount of backslide in a number of school subjects, and music is no exception. Regardless of whether your child is learning math, English, or music, any gap in learning will result in a loss of that knowledge. Summer music camp can help bridge the gap between school years, and help stave off that backslide through performance and practice. Some studies even suggest that maintaining musical training during the summer can help guard against extreme backsliding in other subjects as well, specifically math.

Build Up Their View of the World of Music

As your children’s daily lives become routine, it can be pretty easy for them to take their participation in music for granted. They see and play music with the same people every day, and even if they perform in a competition or festival, that experience will offer very little interaction with their musical peers from other schools. A musical summer camp can help broaden your child’s view of their participation in music by introducing them to a potentially larger group of their peers, many of whom may be from other schools or relatively distant areas.

Deepen Their Understanding of Their Instrument

A regular music class, especially one through you child’s school, will likely have a single instructor teaching an entire band, made up of many different instruments. While the instructors of these classes do a phenomenal job giving each student and every instrument individual time to learn, the fact is there simply isn’t enough time to give each instrument the focus it deserves. Summer music camps can change that. Many camps offer “masterclasses” presented by an expert or instructor for a single kind of instrument. This offers a great place for in-depth discussion and skill development for a particular instrument that your student may not fully get in their school’s music program.

If you’re still thinking about summer camps for your little ones, be sure to check out all of the programs we offer here at The Music Studio! With camps focusing on everything Musical Theatre to forming a rock band, we’ve got something for everyone! Check them out here, and be sure to sign up before they fill up!