Prior to my first ever visit to Camp Calvin last Thursday afternoon at the St. Edouard Renewal Centre, I logged onto the camp website — campcalvin.ca — to get a sense as to what Camp Calvin — founded by renowned local fiddle player Calvin Vollrath, and his wife Rhea Labrie — is all about.
A quote on the front page of the site caught my attention, from someone saying, “It dawned on me that Camp Calvin isn’t a place…it’s an atmosphere.”
I came away from my visit with the exact same impression.
It is clear in this camp’s nine years of existence that a special community has formed amongst the students, instructors and the volunteers.
“The atmosphere is always so friendly,” says Brianna Lizotte, a fiddle-player making her fourth appearance at the camp. “It is always great to come together with people that have similar interests to me.”
“I always feel like I am among family when I come to this camp,” says Brett Zahar, with his sister, Cassidy Zahar, saying she has “made many lifelong friends at this camp” in her seven years attending.
“The atmosphere is just electric every year,” says Vollrath. “On the first day some of the new campers are nervous, but for the people that have been here before it is like a family reunion. Everybody comes committed to learning new ideas and new tunes. That is always great to see.”
The camp ran all of last week and wraps up tomorrow. Each year, this camp attracts performers from coast-to-coast in Canada, as well as the United States.
The close-to-60 campers that enrolled in Camp Calvin had an opportunity to register in the fiddle, piano or guitar programs that were being offered. Students spent the week attending different workshops and classes that were taught by a strong roster of world-class musicians.
At night, the students took part in fun jam sessions, and had an opportunity to attend concerts put on by the camp instructors. On the final night of each camp, students perform a concert.
There was a new item added to the curriculum for the ninth year: songwriting.
Vollrath explains he taught everybody how to read a chord chart, followed by putting some chords down and challenging everybody to write a tune with those chords.
“There was a lot of fear as a lot of people said they had never written anything before. But this morning, we heard about 25-30 compositions and it was very special.”
There were some original compositions heard at the Fiddler’s Idol talent show on Thursday afternoon. This event, always a hit with the campers, allowed the musicians to dazzle the audience in whatever way they chose to do. There was square dancing, fiddle acts, an instrumental re-telling of the tale of the story of the three little pigs, reinterpretations of songs by famous artists such as Carrie Underwood, among many other imaginative acts.
“It is always amazing to see that there are so many musicians with such great talent,” says Malachi Barter, who has been a Camp Calvin member for the past four summers. “It is always great to come back to witness these talents.”
Everyone is welcome to attend the Camp Calvin Concerts that are taking place at the St. Edouard Renewal Centre tonight and tomorrow starting at 7 p.m. Tonight, Vollrath performs with guitar player Clinton Pelletier, while on Wednesday night, the students perform.
