Planning Ahead for Summer Music Camps

On a recent episode of the Time to Practice podcast, monthly expert guest Barbie Wong came on the podcast to talk about looking ahead to summer music activities. Our conversation centered on music camps and also on how to raise funds in creative ways if the cost feels daunting.

You can listen to our episode below and also read on to see a re-cap of ways to fundraise to help cover the cost of music camp for your child this summer.

To Listen to the full episode you can find the Time to Practice Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast platform. You can also listen directly from the link below:

Summer camps and Suzuki Institutes often announce their dates in the fall and many open their registration in January or February. It’s not too early to start to consider which music camps might be a good fit for your child to attend this summer.

Have a conversation with your teacher if you have any questions about which experiences would be the best fit for your child, at their current age and experience level. They can also let you know what opportunities are offered in your area. Often, registration and scholarship deadlines happen in the first quarter of the year, earlier than you might expect.

Many camp experiences, including Suzuki Institutes, can be a big financial investment (one that is totally worth it, in my opinion), and some advanced planning and creativity may be needed in order to attend.

Music Camp To Do list:

*Look at dates early for the camp(s) your child might attend, which will allow you to block off the dates on your calendar and make plans for trips and other obligations around that time, if you’re able.

*Know that if you register early, a number of camps and institutes offer an option to pay a registration fee and then make monthly payments towards your camp balance,spreading out the cost over many months. This also allows you time to get creative and come up with some fundraising efforts. Signing up early and making a plan can help a lot!

Some creative fundraising ideas some of my students have used in the past include:

*Benefit concerts

*Pop can drives

*Fundraisers through businesses that will allow for individual fundraising efforts. In the past, Krispy Kreme and See’s Candy have worked for students (although things change all the time, so please check whether this will work for you).

*Setting up a practice-a-thon and having friends and family members support their days, minutes, or hours of practice over a given set of time, with proceeds going into their music camp tuition. This doubles as a great motivation to practice!

*Playing outside at the farmers market with their cases open and a sign explaining they were raising funds for their camp attendance… Be sure to check for rules in your area to see if this is allowed where you live.

*Students have also done yard work, babysitting, or found other ways to raise a portion of their tuition to make it possible for them to attend.

Team up with other students in your studio to make it a fun group effort if you can!

Many small efforts can add up over time to help off of the cost to make it possible to send our child to a camp. These experiences can spark their motivation for the whole year ahead. Also, it can be a fantastic opportunity for our family and community to feel like they’re helping support our child’s musical journey and for our child to feel a sense of ownership and that they were part of the process of getting to attend.

It does take some time and creativity, but I think planning when and how we’ll make attending camp possible and discussing it with others can help. So can planning in advance, so you have 4, 6 or even 8 months to make this happen and not just one or two, which may feel like too much to think about at the end of a busy school year.

What other fundraising ideas would you add to the list?