Music in the Air: Two Summers at Interlochen

The mid-summer heat in Mexico's Baja California is upon us, and given the continuing drought, we're rationing water as we wait our turn to have the cistern filled.  I need a mini-escape, and find joy looking through photos from Interlochen and reading my journals...

June 21, 2009

Melodies of Bach and Mozart float from wooden "practice" cabins nestled among tall pines.  The sweet sounds of strings and voices are punctured by percussion beats and jarred by jazz belted out on saxophones and trombones.  This joyous, competitive cacophony marks the Sunday before camp begins.  All around the 1200-acre Interlochen campus in northwest Michigan, students prepare to audition for ensemble placement, or coveted parts in plays or ballets.

Owen (L) and John 

As John (17) and Owen (18) explore, I relax on a shaded patio overlooking a tranquil lake.  Swimming and boating offer diversion from the grueling and sometimes driven efforts made here every June-August.  I'll learn more about overuse injuries when I work next summer as a camp nurse…and more about homesickness.  A half dozen teens lean over the railing near my chair, looking toward the lake, laughing and talking in Spanish. They're from Venezuela, Peru, and Costa Rica, happy to have found each other. 

John's cabin

Having helped John settle in, we head to lunch in the huge dining hall, fill our plates from a smorgasbord of food choices, and sit with students from Sweden and China.  Most of the 2000 campers---representing 40 countries--are now in uniform: navy corduroy shorts and white tops (white for Sunday; other days they'll wear blue).  Later today they'll line up to march into the massive, open-sided Kresge Auditorium for the opening ceremony.

High School girls ready for opening ceremony

Visionary high school music teacher Joe Maddy started summer music camps here in 1928.  Wealthy Chicagoan Clement Stone provided the funds to help it become the internationally renowned Interlochen Center for the Arts, comprising Arts Camp, Arts Academy (boarding high school), College of Creative Arts, Public Radio, and Interlochen Presents (performances by students and world-class artists).

Visiting graves of great-grandparents in Iowa, en route

His prior application rejected, John worked hard to make the cut this year.  I sense the parallels between the journey from Colorado to Interlochen and the journeys John and Owen have made over the past couple years…through adolescent trial and error into a growing maturity. Both have embraced the faith of their parents and grandparents, along with empathy and compassion for others.  My heart overflows with gratitude when John speaks of the boys he'll get to know in his cabin of 12, and says "I'll be reaching out to those who seem not to be fitting in."

Mid-way through camp, John writes to me and Bill:  "I can't thank you guys enough for making this possible for me.  I've grown and matured in many areas besides music, and consider this experience a major event in my life…"  John "was a constant source of inspiration for his peers," writes his jazz guitar teacher, welcoming John back for next summer.  

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July 2010

John meets my nurse co-workers

What joy to be back amid the music and the pines…for two weeks instead of two days!  My volunteering helps with John's tuition.  And it's a welcome break after a year of nastiness in the workplace and too little playtime.  I've developed hip pain recently and am blessed to have found a medical massage therapist here who's given me corrective exercises.  

Camp nurse colleagues in the boy's sick bay

At the boys' infirmary we deal with bites, injuries, homesickness, and general exhaustion...offering encouragement and a listening ear in addition to pills and lotions.  Most of the boys are fairly stoic.  There's more drama on the girls' side of camp, where I was called one evening for psychiatric nursing support.  So much pressure, often self-imposed, in spite of staff efforts to help students balance work and leisure.  I need that balance myself!

July 26:

Wine-tasting tour, Old Mission Peninsula

"Let's go to Poppycocks in Traverse City," says John, when I offer to take him out to eat soon after arriving at Interlochen.  Over yummy vegetarian food, he tells me about his teachers, new friends, and the delights of excelling on guitar and writing his own music.  Next day, in the staff cafeteria, an Arts Academy faculty member encourages me to investigate the Academy's postgraduate (post high school) year of study for John.  

July 28:  

I'm on a self-care getaway during my two-day break: another massage, hotel room with jacuzzi, walk by the lakeshore, and now a tour of wine country on the Old Mission Peninsula.  Lovely, relaxing!

August 1:

John with his proud papa

Sunday morning by the lake, I lean into my adirondack chair and listen to the music as various groups prepare for performances at camp's end.  Closing my eyes, I feel a deep peace as sounds of the Interlochen Chorale wash over me.  And later, listening to the orchestra play the second movement ("coming home") of Dvorak's New World Symphony, I sense the need to create more quiet moments for my spirit.

S.S. Badger, crossing Lake Michigan

August 9:

John checked out of Interlochen full of enthusiasm for the future, whether or not he's accepted for the Academy's postgraduate year.  He received the High School Boys division Honor Camper award, and commented, "It almost means more than a music award."  The final concerts by John and his jazz cohorts were inspiring!

Post Script:  Soon after John completed his postgraduate year at the Arts Academy, I left my stressful job and started my own consulting business.  John now attends seminary in Japan, and continues making music.  Owen, living in Mexico, has taken up guitar making.