Singing in the Summer

When I tried to learn harmonica, the first lesson was "Be your own biggest fan." Maria has always been her own biggest fan as she developed her own special singing style--something like impromptu wordless opera in tones just lower than those only dogs hear--and it was obvious that she really enjoyed singing. But until my friend Maryan advertized her Singing in the Summer camp, I worried that Maria would remain underappreciated for a long time.



Now Maryan could make a week-long tooth-brushing camp fun, so I knew her singing camp would be the perfect environment for Maria to work on harnessing her untrained gifts. Throughout the week Maria was fairly quiet when asked about how camp was going, but before Friday James was singing "Strike up the Band" and Anthony was singing "I'm Looking Over a Four Leafed Clover" so I knew that it was going well. And now everyone is enjoying her singing as much as she is.







On the last day, the girls did a mini concert. I thought it was pretty impressive considering they had one week of training. Unfortunately, Blogger is fighting all my efforts to upload the little movie I made, so you will just have to believe me.

They sang the Kyrie and then Veni Creator Spiritu (in Latin!). They did hand movements with "Four Leafed Clover" and marched to "The Marine Corps Hymn" and the "Army Song". Maria told me she sang the harmony part on "Lonely Goatherd" which I thought was amazing with only a week of practice. Well, my descriptions will never live up to your actually hearing her sing, but I assure you that it is now something to look forward to.