About 40 middle and high school students are spending the week exploring many aspects of music at St. Vrain Valley’s Innovation Center, from playing classical music to composing with GarageBand software to learning about the music business.
Tom Darcy, director of advanced technologies and innovation, said the new Composing Innovation summer camp was designed to appeal to both musicians and students interested in other areas of music, including technology and business. “It’s really the evolution of STEM into music,” he said. “It’s not just for people who want to play an instrument.”
The camp started with teaching students background information, including a tutorial on using the GarageBand software. Students on Tuesday worked with the Boulder Symphony at Skyline High’s Vance Brand Auditorium, either playing, conducting or learning what goes into producing a show.
On Wednesday, they tried voice effects, synthesizers, amps with guitars and other music technology in the district’s Mobile Innovation Lab. They also experimented with various instruments in a “musical petting zoo,” from playing a traditional trumpet, cello and guitar to trying an e-wind instrument, small keyboards and theremins — electronic musical instruments controlled without physical contact.
