A Look at our First Music + Art Camp “Express Yourself”
We’re on the other side of our first ever music + art summer camp here at InTune! We had a week full of diverse experiences, which left us feeling energized, inspired and relaxed. Looking back, it’s amazing to see how much we explored and created in such a short time. Here’s a look at what we did throughout the week:
On our first day, we did some fun DIY and experimentation in the studios — first by making our own paint and paintbrushes in the art studio, then by making balloon drums and trying new instruments in the music studio. We used a range of items from around the house for our projects, including baking ingredients, clothespins, pipe cleaners, sponges, straws, tin cans, and more. Everyone was especially creative in making their paintbrushes, turning them into art objects as well as mark-making tools.
Our balloon drums turned out fantastically too, and produced really great sounds! After decorating them, we took turns beating the main drum (djembe), with everyone responding on their homemade drums. Campers then got the opportunity to try unfamiliar instruments, giving them new names based on their shapes and sounds, and discovering multiple ways they could produce sounds from them. We improvised with our instruments as a group, adding one instrument in at a time, listening and responding as we went.
The next day we continued our collaborative creativity, as we produced and recorded rainstorm soundscapes and composed various songs for each other to play on the hand bells. The soundscape (posted below) was made with a variety of instruments, including the rainstick, ocean drum, maracas, and thunder tube. We each chose a part to play in the “rainstorm”, and participated intuitively, as we listened and responded to each other without speaking.
In the art studio, our projects revolved around collage and magazines, starting with collaborative 3-part drawings that we took turns adding to.
We then used magazines to create two pieces of art — cutouts to make collages, and entire magazines to make impressive wall sculptures.
Wednesday we made some fun connections between art and music through storytelling, illustration and a sound-effect technique called Foley. We began by binding a simple 8-paged original story (written by Joanna and Rachael!) and illustrating each page. 
After creating the visuals and becoming familiar with the story, we recorded it, adding sounds we thought went best along with the story.
In the afternoon, we returned to the art studio and made our own stamps using wooden paint sticks, adhesive foam sheets and paint.
On Thursday we brainstormed who we’d be as fairy tale characters, which we then translated onto paper, drawing or painting our fictitious personalities. After establishing our individual characteristics, we discussed the idea of motif in storytelling and film. Using the instruments available in the music studio, each camper chose a series of sounds and recorded a short musical piece that best suited their character.
1. Roxie
2. Hexi/Lexi
3. Ella
4. Pearl
On our last day of camp, we played musical bingo. Using a variety of the instruments used throughout the week, we all made our own bingo cards by drawing the instruments into a grid. In the afternoon, we were visited by local musician Luna Moth for a very special concert! Luna recently finished recording an album of environmental songs for kids, and shared with us songs about monarch migration, loons, making maple syrup, and more. The kids learned to sing the choruses to some of these new songs and also learned about nature and songwriting.