CMW All-Student Retreat

On a crisp, sunny morning last Wednesday, Community MusicWorks students, staff, and instruments filled two yellow school buses and traveled south to Canonicus Camp and Conference Center in Exeter, RI for the annual all-student retreat.

This was my second time joining the retreat, and I admit I was a little bit nervous about taking a large group of children with instruments into the wild! Fortunately none of my worst fears came to pass.  Instead the day was a wonderful mix of learning, play, and group bonding.

One of my favorite parts of the day was watching many of my Daily Orchestra Program students focus for an entire hour learning one melody (an unprecedented length of focus for them!).  I also enjoyed the introductory activity in which small groups had to build a machine using only the members of their group.  I think I did pretty well in my role as the side of a garbage truck.

Other highlights included watching students valiantly rescue each other from jail in a game of Capture the Flag, enjoying the perfect weather outdoors on a scavenger hunt that turned into “find as many interesting objects as you can,” and making my opera debut as a student’s cello in a performance following Chase Spruill’s opera workshop.

Throughout the day I enjoyed seeing so many students smiling, friendships forming, and people working together, whether to build a machine or to make music on their instruments.  It was definitely a successful retreat!

–Lisa Barksdale  (Resident Musician)