MPC 2009 Blog
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Camp check-in began early in the afternoon with people arriving over a 3.5 hour time span. Once everyone had arrived and checked into their dorm room for their week, we all met for a camp orientation meeting at 4:00 p.m. Orientation helped explain some of the rules, expectations, as well as other activities and aspects of the Midwest Percussion Camp. After the orientation, students and parents said their goodbyes and the campers enjoyed a pizza party dinner. At the pizza party campers started to get acquainted with one another and make new friends. After pizza, Mr. Dan Smithiger presented a one hour steel pan clinic – something which many students knew little about. After the clinic, the campers sat in on a panel discussion with the entire camp faculty for the week. This discussion was all about the camp history, their percussion careers, what they could expect from camp, and any questions the students had. After the panel discussion, campers met back over at the dorms and had a floor meeting with their camp counselors for the week. After the short meeting everyone played a “name game” which helped everyone learn each other’s names. After the game, the campers took a short walking tour of the McKendree University campus and got to chat with each other along the way. After the tour we played “giant twister” – it is just like twister but bigger for everyone to play. Everyone then decided it was time to go inside after the bugs started biting, so we headed into the dorm lounge to watch TV, chat, and play more icebreakers. Everyone headed back to their rooms to relax, shower, and sleep around 10:30 p.m.
Monday, June 15, 2009
On Monday the campers entered their first full day of percussion classes. Each camper has classes in Timpani, Snare Drum, Mallet Percussion, Latin/World Percussion, Drum Set, Marching Percussion, Concert Percussion, and Percussion Ensemble. We break for lunch at 12:00 p.m. and get right back to class at 1:00 p.m. After a long day of classes, we met for dinner at 5:00 p.m. All the campers are getting to know the Ame’s Dining Hall staff and are being very friendly and have fun in their meal times. After dinner we had about 35 minutes of down time for
the campers to relax and soak in the day. At 6:30 p.m. the campers came back over to the Hett for a one hour concert percussion clinic by Mr. Erick Saoud. At 7:30 p.m. we loaded up 3 McKendree University vans and headed for Belleville, IL to go to “The Edge”. “The Edge” is the world’s largest indoor laser tag arena. We were originally supposed to go to “Centerfield” to play mini-golf, go-karts, etc. but the weather wasn’t holding up, so we had to change our plans. Campers had a great time and got to play 3 games of laser tag, and also had hot dogs, french-fries, and soda/water. We left “The Edge” at 10:00 p.m. and made the drive back to McKendree University. Once we got back to the dorms it was time for the campers to head to their rooms and get showered or head to sleep. Only one full day done, and everyone is already tired – but having a great 
time!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tuesday morning seems to have come too early! Everyone seemed pretty tired but was ready to go for another full day of percussion classes. Today everyone had a little different schedule in their classes. In the afternoon everyone spent 2 hours (instead of only 1) in the Marching Percussion Class. Bret Kuhn (MPC Guest Artist) was now at camp and teaching the marching percussion classes. After a long day of classes (and a lot more rain!) everyone headed off to dinner and to relax a bit before the evening activities
got into full swing. At 6:30 p.m. all of the campers returned to the Hett for a Marching Percussion Clinic with Bret Kuhn. The clinic began with a showing of the 2004 Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps “James Bond” show. The campers really enjoyed watching it – it was especially neat to know that Bret had written and taught all the percussion music for such a great drum corps. Bret also showed everyone how important learning all the rudiments were by demonstrating different styles of percussion on different 
instruments that are derived out of the main rudiments. The campers were also introduced to our guest artist, Professor Johnny Lee Lane who is from Remo, Inc. and will be with us for the rest of the week. After Bret Kuhn’s clinic, we attempted to take our first camp photo (attempted). We all headed outside to pose around the entrance sign to the Hettenhausen Center for the Arts (it was actually sunny by this point!) and took a few photos. Unfortunately the photos didn’t turn out so well because of the angle of the sun and the shadows. After the quick photo shoot we headed back inside, this time
to the Hett Auditorium where the entire camp faculty put on a 1 hour concert for the campers. It was nice to see different sides of all the faculty – many played instruments that they are not teaching, showing how versatile they each are. After the concert we did another photo shoot and were able to get a few great full camp shots with our faculty and guest artists. After the photos were done, campers had a few minutes to use the restroom and stretch before heading back inside to watch the movie “Mall Cop”. We used a full size movie theater screen and surround sound to watch the movie, so it was like we were at the theater! After the movie it was getting late, so it was time to head back to the dorms. Once back in the dorms campers had a few snacks and drinks and a short time to hang out before it was time to get ready for bed. Another long day down, only 2 and half more to go!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Each day seems earlier and earlier! Today was a sunny, and hot day…at least it didn’t rain! We spent the day in our regular routine of classes. Marching Percussion was held outside for a portion of the day, but moved indoors after awhile due to the heat (tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter!) After the daily grind of classes we broke for dinner and free time. During the free time, campers got ready for the pool party later in the evening. At 6:30 p.m. everyone headed back to the Hett to listen to a motivational/educational speech from Professor Johnny Lee Lane. “Prof” is currently the director of educational marketing at Remo Percussion. Prof was also the founder of the former United States Percussion Camp which served as the building blocks for the Midwest Percussion Camp. After Prof’s speech, campers 
loaded up the vans and we all headed to New Baden, Illinois for a private pool party from 8:00-10:00 p.m. The pool was really nice – the water was perfect and there were 2 diving boards (high and low) and a slide. The campers also had a giant inflatable floating walrus to play with in the pool as well. Some campers who didn’t swim hung around the edge of the pool and chatted and played cards. Towards the end of the party most of the campers had congregated around the snacks and drinks that were brought to the pool with us. We left the pool right about 10:00 p.m. and headed back to McKendree University. Once we were all back to the dorms we had a little time to just relax and hang out before it was time to get ready for bed. Thursday will be our longest day at camp because of clinics and an evening rehearsal to prepare for Friday morning’s concert. After the rehearsal we are looking forward to having our end of camp party in “the Lair” on campus where there will be snacks, music, pool, ping pong, TV, and more.