Our Mission
Founded in 2016, the OSU High School Summer Music Camp offers young musicians the unique opportunity to immerse themselves in music for a week with other students who share their love of music. Our region’s public schools struggle to keep music programs alive despite budget cuts and curricular challenges. As a university music program, it is our duty at OSU to support the heroic efforts of public school music teachers by providing educational opportunities to engage, enrich and inspire the young musicians of Oklahoma and the surrounding states.
What We've Done
During our second year of camp, we welcomed 120 high school musicians to the OSU-Stillwater campus for five days of lessons, sectionals, rehearsals and classes, all culminating in a final concert featuring the camp Band, Orchestra and Piano divisions. Campers hailed from Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Minnesota, and Virginia. Our camp provided these musicians with a life-changing intensive and comprehensive musical experience at the collegiate level. Students studied with OSU Greenwood School of Music Faculty. Our hope is that the campers were able to take the fruits of this experience back to their public schools and inspire other students with their leadership.
What the Students Say
Here’s how some of our 2017 campers felt about the experience:
- “It was the best musical thing I’ve ever done and I wish I was a freshman so I could come back every year.”
- “I learned a ton about myself: I had never been as terrified to see some of the music we were given and I learned that I could actually play it and in less than a week!”
- “It was just a great experience being around others that have the same passion for music as you do.”
- “It was very intense. I’ve learned more about my instrument than I have in the past 5 years with it.”
- “I liked to get to rehearse and practice with a group of people who were all better than me because it inspired me to practice more and it helped my performance improve.”
How You Can Help
Our goal is to make this musical experience available to as many students as possible. However, we cannot achieve this without your help. For many families, paying for their children to attend summer camp is a luxury that they cannot afford. Additionally, we would like to reward those exceptional students who have participated in their state’s All-State Honor Ensembles and want to attend our camp.
Engage. Enrich. Inspire.
Would you be willing to make a donation to help give a student a life-changing musical experience? Gifts of all sizes will move us toward our goal of helping young musicians realize their artistic potential.
Spread the word of our campaign to your family members, friends, and colleagues. Share on social media through the links found at the top of this page. Visit us at http://musiccamp.okstate.edu