By Haley Amdur
In any place you experience it, music can connect people and build a strong community bond. At camp, this is experienced ten-fold. Harlam campers and staff sing every night after dinner, as well as during our worship experiences. We sing songs that campers have been singing for decades, songs new to this summer, and songs written specifically for Camp Harlam, like Summertime Forever or Stars in the Sky. Music is a fundamental part of what connects Harlamites past, present, and future. Our goal in the music department is to empower campers to be as involved in this as possible, and to cultivate the next generation of Harlam songleaders. There are many opportunities for this at camp!
Senior Camp Chugim: We offer songleading chugim for our K’far Noar and Chavurah campers. In this chugim, there is an expectation that campers come to the chug with basic musical knowledge. While this can include guitar skills, it is not required. This curriculum is based around the skill of songleading, and is less focused on music in general. These skills include using their whole body when leading, understanding the needs of a community, and creating meaningful experiences through music.
Arava/Galil Chugim: This chug is offered specifically for Arava and Galil campers, and only for the second rotation of chugim. This is four, one hour sessions in which we prepare for a specific performance at the end of the 4 sessions. This performance will be at Smorning Camp Harlam, which is our morning meeting for campers Carmel-Galil.
Fun.: This experience is intentionally unstructured music time. This provides 5 opportunities for throughout the session for campers who are interested in music, including but not limited to campers who play instruments, to participate in music at camp.
Shabbat T’fillah: It is our belief and understanding at Camp Harlam that the all campers who wish to participate in music during their unit’s Shabbat service should be able to do so. All campers will be given the opportunity to engage in music from one of our chapel spaces. However, the
Other Opportunities: Through the opportunities identified above, we the music staff will identify campers with the necessary musical skills and ask them to participate in other musical opportunities at camp. Examples of this are song session (specifically Friday night for Shabbat, but other nights are opportunities as well), unit t’fillah, and many more. We look forward to engaging campers in this way.
Haley Amdur is the Head Song Leader at Camp Harlamas well as the Jewish Life Assistant. This is her 11th summer at camp. Haley attend the George Washington University and recently returned from a semester abroad in Ireland.