By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
The High Plains Music Camp at Fort Hays State University was in full swing last week, bringing in students, music instructors and clinicians to Hays from around the country — creating a unique musical event in northwest Kansas.
The event, aimed at providing world-class music instruction for middle and high school students, has been an annual tradition at FHSU since 1947, regularly bringing back FHSU alumni and FHSU students to assist with the camp along with guest clinicians. This year, the camp brought Maestro Theodore Kuchar, California, Orchestra Conductor; Gretchen Harrison, Kansas, Choral Specialist; Rodney Jones, New York, Jazz Guitarist; and Pete Zimmer, New York, Jazz Drummer.
Video by Ricky Kerr, Hays Post
On his second visit to Hays, Zimmer found a different experience working with the campers.
“I’ve been having a lot of fun working with the drummers and the jazz students,” Zimmer said, noting he also presented a workshop in 2009.
Even with the busy schedule of the camp, Zimmer said he found time to explore Hays.
“We’ve gone to Gella’s — great food and beverages,” he said, adding he had also stopped at local haunts Gutch’s and Whiskey Creek.
Along with the local dining, Zimmer felt the local landscape was interesting and very different from his current home.
“It’s really beautiful,” he said. “In New York, you don’t get to see the sky as much. It’s been cool at night and the clouds and everything are a different vibe from New York.”
Even though he currently resides in New York, he grew up in Wisconsin and said Hays “kind of feels like home.”
Many students echoed Zimmer’s enthusiasm for the camp and Hays.
“This is my fourth year,” said Allison Hall, high school junior. “It’s just so much fun, and it introduces me to new people and harder types of music.”
“I absolutely love all of the music that is played at all of the recitals,” she said. Hall was with a group of four that came from Dodge City to participate in the camp.
High school senior and trumpet player Rhiannon Mullins, Hoxie, also has been coming to the camp for four years and has aspirations of some day being a collegiate music instructor. But for now, she just enjoys the camp.
While she said “we’ve played a lot,” the camp also gave her the opportunity to have “a lot of fun” and “hang out with friends.”
One of the more interesting features of the camp is the number of students from the past who now work the camp as instructors or counselors.
Brianne Shores, a FHSU art major from Haven, had been a camper during her high schools years and felt the desire to be a counselor at the camp now that she is a FHSU student.
“It’s just a really great community. It’s really powerful and you learn a lot. Ever since I came here, I wanted to be part of the university,” she said.