Arrowbear Quiz

Click here for answers

Work Weekend 2005

Howdy, Happy Campers! It’s spring cleaning time at Arrowbear Music Camp. This winter was a tough one so there’s a little extra work to do. Work weekends this year will be held:

May 28-30 (Memorial weekend), June 4-5, and June 11-12.

This will be a really beautiful time of year in our mountains as the spring flowers will be in full bloom. Take a hike while you’re there! Come for an hour, come for a day, or stay all weekend – any help is appreciated! Meals will be served Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon (through Monday afternoon for Memorial Day weekend.) You may arrive Friday evening, but meals will be on your own.

Specific tasks on our priority list this year are: repairing the grounds from this winter’s damage, raking, painting, repairing roofs, sprucing up the boys’ dorm, and general camp clean-up. If you’ve got a specific skill, or even a pet peeve you’d like to work on, please contact Dennis and Carole. In an effort to help us plan for food and sleeping accommodations, please RSVP at info@arrowbear.com or call toll free (877) 867-4511. See you there!

Arrowbear Memories Part II - Spring 2004

In our Fall Newsletter, we printed several memories from campers who went to Arrowbear last summer. There wasn’t enough room to include them all last time, so here are some more for you to enjoy.

One of the things (though no longer there :( ) that gave me SO many memories was playing basketball. What was so special? It was doing this the first day that sparked many of the relationships that flourished throughout the session. I came to camp wearing a Shaquille O'Neal shirt (big sports fan I am), and was one of, if not the biggest kid there. So when playing basketball, I pretended to be Shaq - muscling out all the rebounds, towering over everyone else, and doing an exaggerated impresssion of a Shaq freethrow. A few of my friends became Kobe, Rasheed Wallace and other NBA players...Shortly after becoming 'Shaq' during basketball, I was given the nickname 'Bass.' That came from being one of the bigger kids there and doing Shaq impersonations in a really low voice. The rest of the session all of my friends referred to me as 'Bass.'

Matthew Kwong

My big Arrowbear memory occurred when we made Jewish cookies during rec. My friend Erin Christovale and I were sharing a glass of milk. We took a bite of one of them and we really, really, really needed milk. So we were fighting over the glass of milk ,and I took a sip and she said something really funny. I laughed so hard that the milk came out of my nose. It was great! Soo funny! That’s my story!

Katherine Hoffman

This was my first year at Arrowbear, and it's all I've been yapping about all summer. I don't even have to hesitate to say I'll be going back next year. I remember specifically at campfire how many people said Arrowbear was a relief and going home was going to be tough to get through. I think that must be because of all the wonderful people who inhabited the camp with them over the two weeks. Friends. That's something I won't forget. Friends shared good times and bad times.. but it was always together. My most fond memories of Arrowbear had to be the good and humorous times.

With all the talk about bears going around camp what else was I supposed to think in the middle of the night? Even the name ArrowBEAR suggests they're around... It had to have been one or so in the morning and there was a loud crash. I'm surprised no one else heard it. But I shrugged it off, nevertheless burying myself a little farther into my sleeping bag. Not too soon later, there was a grunt and a snort... something resembling a roar, only faint. All signs were pointing to one thing; a bear. In the girl's cabin. I was so frightened. My heart was beating faster than I could count! I was trembling and refused to so much as peak out of the window. I was sure the bear would catch a glimpse of me. Somehow, I managed to fall back asleep.

I think I was surprised when I woke to reveille playing in the morning. I was fine... so was everyone else and no one was chattering about the bear. I was frantic, nearly ready to yell, "THERE WAS A BEAR! DIDN'T ANYONE ELSE HEAR IT?!" But before I had the chance, my eyes caught the one girl in Cabin 2 still asleep and ... snoring. Juli. I blushed to myself as I realized the familiarity of the girl's snore, or should I say, the fearsome bear's roar.  Cabin 2 seemed to find it quite amusing. Allie laughed, Rachel rolled around on the floor, and even Carolyn was doubling over with laughter. Shame on Naihla who also found herself chortling at me. And who could forget the fearsome Juli... who apologized so many times. To conclude, I'll NEVER forget that time. When the time came to share it at campfire, I could hardly bring myself to say it with a straight face.

Jessica Mantel

Memories from Current Arrowbearites

We asked some campers from this summer to share some of their best memories of camp. Some may only make complete sense to those who were there. You all have memories like that too.

Sometime, in the later part of our first week up at camp, Conductor Val Jamora let the band (lots of fun, I'll never forget!) out on time and Stephen Tucker was holding the orchestra over. I think it may have been the night of the first dance, but it was the evening rehearsal. Flute in hand, apparently I'd left the case in the dorm, I walked across the bridge and saw that the orchestra was still rehearsing, so I sat down to watch. For what I was later told was 45 minutes, I sat and watched, just taking it all in. I remembered what it had been like my first year up here, and the second, both on violin, this year, the third, on flute. It's such a different experience, I hadn't realized how much I missed playing in an orchestra.

Stephen finally let the orchestra out, and I got up, a bit sore, and cold, and walked back into the dorm to the "L." One of the girls walked in from the rehearsal and chucked her water bottle against the far wall with a fair amount of anger and did not really shout or yell, but firmly stated "I hate Stephen!" I answered her outburst quietly, saying, "You guys may hate it, but I would give anything to be able to play well enough to be under his baton. I miss it so much.""Oh, Monica," She said, suddenly soft spoken, and hugged me. Tears came, pretty much unbidden, in small rivlets down my cheeks. I don't cry easily, for those of you who saw me fall down/up on the Seth's Peak hike, well, I don't know, but believe me that hurt (I won't soon forget that either.) So, thanks to Stephen, I've decided to pick up my violin again with more enthusiasm this time, working towards being a semi-decent orchestra member. It's a unique experience, I could never leave it behind entirely.

Monica McCallum

Probably one of my favorite campfire songs is "Shooting Star". When I was in intermediate, one of my counselors told my friend Catherine and me a story about how when she was a camper she and the friend that she had at camp would sit by each other and when they sang that song they would pass a rock they picked up off of the ground to each other to symbolize the shooting star. So Catherine and I would always pass one to each other and say "Look, I caught you one". Then this year, Catherine didn't go. I told the story to my friend Lauren, though, and she "caught" and passed me a "shooting star".

Mo

Um, memories... the pool wars, the "What does this mean?" activity, the Coconut Bear, Coffee Time with Ross, and dodging various airborne Ross projectiles.

Nikki

Summer of 2001...Background-1st Intermediate was my first time at Arrowbear. I had only been playing for about 8 or 9 months and was uncertain as to how I'd measure up to the skill levels of the other violinists. I feared having to do things such as playing or acting in front of the camp, and came up to Arrowbear not knowing anyone...

The Session

On the first day, I settled down quickly and made several close friends. Within the first few days I became close with nearly half the dorm (there were a lot of guys- we took up 3 dorms) and found several people each of whom shared many interests with me. The first few days of MUSIC playing were okay. I had trouble sight reading, but soon came to like the pieces we played. One other memory that pops up is the conquering of another one of my fears- PLAYING IN FRONT OF CAMP. 

Fast forward to the last few days of Camp

There was a musical right around the corner (either that day or the next), and one of my friends came up saying that we should play one of the pieces we were going to play at the concert. They seemed delighted at the idea, but I wasn't so sure...having gone up there for a skit and somewhat made a fool of myself already seemed like enough for a first-timer...but they all encouraged me, persuading me it would be fine...so I decided to go for it. That night at the musical, four of my friends (including myself) went up there- 1st, 2nd Violin, Viola, Cello, and my friend who played the trumpet who went up there to "conduct" us. He pulled out--a THREE MUSKETEERS BAR for a baton!! Everything went well.What was so special? In addition to being one of the funny/silly memories of that session, that one also marked somewhat of a mini-accomplishment/reaching of a goal. And although it may not have been all that serious with the candy bar or as impressive as some flashy Violin Concerto, it was a pretty big step for me.

Matthew

Arrowbear's 62nd Summer

Summer is fast approaching. It’s not too late to enroll yourself or your children in a session at Camp. Yes, even you can still enjoy the magic of Arrowbear. The Symphonic Institute is a four day workshop for musicians entering 12^th grade through adults. This session consists of reading and professional style rehearsals. The last few summers, this session has been led by well known UC Irvine conductor, Stephen Tucker, who was one of the featured conductors in our last newsletter. Dust off your instrument, relive some old memories, and make plenty of new ones while you get away from your usual routine.

Answers to Arrowbear Quiz