Summer Honor Band Camp Celebrates 20 Years
There is a probably apocryphal story involving famed concert pianist Arthur Rubenstein according to which he was stopped by a man in need of directions on the streets of New York. “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” the fellow is supposed to have asked. “Practice, practice, practice,” if the story is to be believed, was Rubenstein’s reply.
When Andy Hansen was growing up in the Des Moines schools lots of them had their own summer band camp. But by the time he joined the district as a teacher in 1987 those that remained were dying on the vine. At each site there might be a handful of musicians in search of playmates. So Hansen got an idea. Why not bring the kids from all across the district together in the same place at the same time?
At the time there was a district-wide G&T program every summer at North that became Hansen’s model for what eventually launched in 1993 as the DMPS Summer Honor Band Camp for middle school maestros invited to participate by their respective school band directors.
“I’ll never forget what year we started because two weeks after our concert at the end of camp the auditorium at North where we held it was underwater,” Hansen recalls, shaking his head at the memory of that summer’s historic floods. Now, two years after his retirement from the district Hansen is still the Camp Director. This year’s edition, #21, will culminate with the annual closing concert after two weeks of practice, practice, practice on Friday, June 21 at 7:00 P.M. in the auditorium at Hoover where the camp is currently headquartered. Over all those years it’s migrated from home to home, dodging building renovations at first one site, then another.
This morning marked the halfway point for this summer’s band campers. Just before 9:00 A.M. the school buses that pick them up at collection points around the district emptied at Hoover and the sluggish musicians trudged inside, lugging their instrument cases with all the enthusiasm of laborers toting tools into a salt mine. But minutes later the most veteran group was rehearsing a piece called “Got the Spirit” and they clearly had. They must have caught it from one another. Practice takes many forms and team playing beats solitaire, especially in summertime.
Hansen says there were about 120 kids in that first camp 21 years ago. This year there are 180 or so. They’re broken into groups according to experience with 6th graders-to-be in what amounts to a rookie band and mostly 9th graders (make that freshmen)-to-be in the top group. Kids who participate all four years they’re eligible are presented with special awards by Hansen at the concert every year.
Two of this year’s four-timers are Joshua Flory, a horn (tuba, trombone) player from Merrill bound for Urbandale (his family moved), and Savana Colewell, a flautist/saxophonist from Brody who’s headed to Lincoln next fall. Both will be marching in their high school bands by the time school restarts in August.
“I really don’t want any special recognition,” Savana says. “I just kept coming back to band camp because playing music makes me feel good.”
Josh says the music at camp is more challenging than what the kids get during the year at their home schools because everyone here has serious interest in learning and improvement. But two of his enduring camp memories are weather-related. “My first summer, after 5th grade, I was waiting for the bus at Merrill and it was real hot,” he remembers. “I was afraid the bus would be late but it showed up right on the dot. What a relief that was!” The following year he stood waiting through a spectacular thunderstorm and was saved by the bus again.
So why does Hansen keep coming back, summer after summer, even two years past his official retirement?
“Because I believe in the cause,” he says. “I grew up in the Des Moines schools and I guess I figure this is the way for me to give back some of what I got.”
As in “the spirit” that was resonating from the practice room right behind him. He’s got it, but good.
