If you are serious about your child's music education and are contemplating this camp, please read…read moreon. We had been excitedly about the Santa Monica Music Camp for my almost 6 year-old son, but the reality turned out to be far different from what was advertised.
Before the camp, we as parents were asked to complete a form to indicate the child's instrument. I selected keyboard/piano because that's what my son had been playing since he was younger, and I thought this week at the camp would be a great opportunity for him to hone his existing piano skills. However, I found out later in the week that my son had actually been playing guitar, completely different from what I had signed him up. The problem lies in non-disclosure about the switch of music instrument from their advertisement materials or pre-camp forms. In *none* of the forms does it state that your child might play a completely different instrument than the one that the parent had indicated. I wrote to the director but received no response. One staff told me "whatever instrument the child wants to play, they can play that." One staff member pointed to the language on the website that the child can experience all sorts of instrument as the reason that they don't need to inform parents if the child switches the instrument than the one for which the parent had signed the child up.
The staff do not ensure that each child plays 3 hours of music, as advertised: What drew us to this place is that on the advertisement, it states "your child will enjoy playing music 3 hours". This sounded incredible since many of us parents needed to cajole our kid to practice their instruments at home. But, what one staff member informed me was that, "if you child does not feel like playing the instrument, we don't make them play the instrument." Okay, I understand that it can be difficult to encourage a reluctant child to play an instrument, but there seems to be general lack of effort to encourage reluctant children to engage, to actual play music. I was told that if the child walks away during rehearsal, the staff will just let the child walk away and do other things. When I asked, "then it is possible that they could learn nothing because they are not practicing?" The staff responded, "Ma'am, this is a camp. If you want your child to learn something, you should sign up for our individual lessons." I was dismayed at the attitude of the staff member who kept emphasizing that this is a *camp*, effectively asking me to not have much expectation of what my child would learn from the music camp. It seems that they do not pay much attention to the learning objectives of the campers, unless we sign up for individual lessons.
Recital: The music camp touts itself for the end-of-the-week recital. However, you need to be aware that your child might not be in the recital. First of all, no audience is allowed at the recital. Second, after the recital, along with the videos of the recital that the staff sends out, the staff email states that "If your child is not featured in the instrument recital, it is because THEY made the personal decision to opt out. We did not want to force any kids to participate if they did not want to." This needs to be made transparent and known to the parents *before* the recital and in the advertisement materials.
Other things that I wished I had known before signing up for Santa Monica music camp:
--Early care and late care/ AM-PM care (before 9 and after 3pm) It currently costs $10/hour. Sounds great and affordable. However, early and late care is literally TV-care! They have a large television area where the TV is on with a bunch of seats around it. And I see the early care kids all sitting around the television, with little engagement from the staff. Late care? Same thing. It should be renamed "TV-care."
--General level of disorganization: The school makes a binder for every child. My child's binder was missing the first day, and no one knows what happened to it. I was promised that his re-made binder would have music sheets in it. However, the whole week went by without any music sheets.
Overall, the reality is a far cry from the advertisement. Unfortunately, my son did not learn much from this experience. Even though it was one week, it was one week of precious time lost. If you have a child on the younger side (5,6,7), I do not recommend this camp for the reasons above. They seems to be understaffed to teach the instruments, and some (not all) staff do not seem to have the motivation to help re-direct the younger children. There were some staff member who tried to address my concerns, such as David, which I appreciate. However, there were other staff members who unfortunately do not have any expectations or goals for our children.
