The Nelly Berman School of Music Summer Camps: Baroque and Beyond & Summer Music Boot Camp

Baroque and Beyond

• Week 1: July 31st through August 4th
• $475.00 for one week. Please register and make a deposit by May 1.
• Only 22 students in the program.

In this five-day course, the Nelly Berman School of Music offers a unique opportunity to students aged 7 to 17 to immerse themselves in the Baroque period and learn what traits and characteristics define this style. Students will learn about dynamics, articulations, rhythm, ornamentation, and nationalistic traits that defined the period.
While period instrument performance has made a great comeback in the past few decades, many musicians still do not have the exposure to historically accurate instruments. Pianists will have the opportunity to perform on a replica of a 18th-century harpsichord. Students will learn harpsichord-specific technical skills as well as expressive skills to bypass the fact that the harpsichord does not allow a performer to play loud/soft as one can do on a modern piano. Pianists will better understand how to interpret and perform Baroque music on the piano which does allow for loud and soft and hear the left hand as an equal partner with the right hand as Baroque music sounds when played on the harpsichord. Strings, winds, brass and voice students will have exposure to Baroque instruments such as the mandolin and rehearse with and be accompanied by one of our faculty members on the harpsichord to experience a more authentic performance of 17th and 18th-century music.
During the Baroque period, most music did not have the dynamic marks, phrase marks, and articulation marks that composers use today. Performers were trained in the style to incorporate things such as terraced dynamics (suddenly louder or softer) and “notes inegales” (over-dotting or notes written as equal values played with different lengths). Ornamentation was something else that performers of the time would add to the music, using trills, mordents, appogiaturas, grace notes, passing tones, and cadenzas.
Students will learn how these traits and ornamentation varied from Germany to Italy to France as they perform music of the period with coaching from our experienced faculty members. They will also have the chance to learn figured bass – how to play a harmonization and melody with only a notated bass line.
At the end of the course, students will be able to use this knowledge to strengthen their performances of Baroque music on modern instruments.

Classes Offered:

• Baroque Music History
• Baroque Music Theory/ Harpsichord Performance Practices
• Baroque Music Presentations: Alexander Technique & Faculty Baroque Performances on Harpsichord & Mandolin
• Supervised Practice coached by NBS Faculty
• Capture the Flag and other outside activities
• Lunch and International Films

Sample Schedule:
8:45AM-4:00PM Daily
Pre-care and after-care available.

• 8:45-9:00 Check In
• 9:00-10:00 Baroque Music History
• 10:00-10:15 Break
• 10:15-11:15 Baroque Theory & Performance Practice on/with Harpsichord
• 11:15-12:00 Ice Cream & Outside Activity
• 12:00-1:00 Lunch & Movie
• 1:00-2:00 Supervised Private Practice coached by NBS Faculty
• 2:00-2:15 Break
• 2:15-3:15 Baroque Performance Class led by NBS Faculty
• 3:15-3:30 Break
• 3:30-4:00 Baroque Presentations - 2 days of Alexander Technique & 2 days of Faculty Baroque Performances with Harpsichord and Mandolin
• Friday at 2:15pm - Camp Concert (morning schedule is the same)

Each one-week session of the camp will culminate in a concert on Friday featuring solo performances by the campers. A choice of pieces from the Baroque period will be assigned in advance. Students are free to choose their own teacher’s suggestion if they prefer.

Summer Music Boot Camp

• Week 2: August 14th through 18th
• $350 for one week. Pay in full by June 1st and get a $25 discount
• Only 10 students in the program.

Drill Your Practice, Performance, and Theory Fundamentals
Learn a piece and perform it in one week!
Sample Schedule:
9:00AM to 3:30PM Daily
$350 per week
Pre-care and after-care available.

• 8:45AM-9:00AM Check In
• 9:00AM-10:00AM Practice Hour 1
• 10:00AM-10:15AM Break
• 10:15AM-11:15AM Practice Hour 2
• 11:15AM-12:00PM Ice Cream and outside
• 12:00PM-1:00PM Performance Class
• 1:00PM-2:00PM Lunch and Movie
• 2:00PM-2:30PM Practice Half Hour 2.5
• 2:30PM-3:30PM Theory Class (Public Performance Class on Friday)

Private Lessons after 3:30PM available for an additional cost
For more information and to download a registration form, visit www.nbsmusic.com.