Musicians develop skills, life perspective at Music For All

Brianna Miller listens to Fran Kick speak during the opening session of the Music For All leadership weekend June 21 at Sursa Hall. Miller is a drum major from McEachern High School in Georgia. DN PHOTO BREANNA DAUGHERTY
Brianna Miller listens to Fran Kick speak during the opening session of the Music For All leadership weekend June 21 at Sursa Hall. Miller is a drum major from McEachern High School in Georgia. DN PHOTO BREANNA DAUGHERTY

Concerts

Music For All provides free and paid concerts for the public during the weeklong event. All concerts are at John R. Emens Auditorium except for the last event Friday. Tickets are available at the auditorium’s box office and Ticketmaster.

Yamaha Young Performing Artists: 8 p.m. today, free

Atlantic Brass Quintet: 8 p.m. Tuesday

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy: 8 p.m. Wednesday

Christian Howes and Southern Exposure: 8 p.m. Thursday

Drum Corps International Central Indiana: 7 p.m. Friday at Scheumann Stadium featuring Phantom Regiment, Carolina Crown (2013 World Champions), Colts, Troopers, Pioneer and Blue Stars

Brianna Miller listens to Fran Kick speak during the opening session of the Music For All leadership weekend June 21 at Sursa Hall. Miller is a drum major from McEachern High School in Georgia. DN PHOTO BREANNA DAUGHERTY

Wide-eyed high school students packed into Sursa Hall on Saturday for the first day of a national band camp on Ball State’s campus.

“The first and last job in leadership is ‘Thank you,’” Fran Kick, leadership coordinator for Music For All, said to an audience of more than 500 during the welcoming meeting for the leadership camp that kicked off the 39th annual Summer Symposium.

The camp will draw more than 1,000 high school music students and directors to Ball State until this Saturday. Currently, just half of the attendees were on campus for the opening weekend because of the leadership camp. The rest will arrive today.

Kick said to the first arrivals that leadership is “all about attitude and gratitude.”

To illustrate this point, he talked about the most powerful gesture an audience can give to performers: the standing ovation.

Kick picked one student from the crowd and made her stand on stage and introduce herself to everyone. He asked the audience to cheer as loud and energetically as possible for her.

“Did you guys feel that?” he asked. “The more you put into, the more you get out.”

Brianna Miller, a drum major from McEachern High School in Georgia, couldn’t agree more with Kick. She said she would listen to his speeches every day if she could.

“Seeing him in action is crazy,” she said. “You laugh, then you kind of get sad and then you are happy again. With Fran Kick, it’s always a good time.”

This is her second year at the Summer Symposium, and Miller said she really understands where the staff is coming from with their philosophy. When drum majors go back to their band, they treat everyone as a leader.

“If everyone has a bad attitude about it, the camp or band isn’t going to be as good,” she said. “The effort depends on us and the effort we put into it. I think everyone loves the camp and puts so much into it and that’s what makes it amazing.”

For Jeremiah Wooten, a drum major for Franklin High School in Tennessee, what made him come back for his third year is “the excitement of the big band family.”

“We’re all from different schools and I know a lot of these people,” Wooten said. “I’ve competed against them and I wish I could have beaten them. But when you’re here, you realize they’re normal band kids just like me. They’re struggling out there in the heat. They’re wanting water just as much as you are.”

It’s the connections that campers create that make the experience worthwhile, Miller said.

“It makes you motivated to want your band to be like that,” she said. “Everyone here is just here to make themselves better and their band better.”

Wooten said it’s funny to see everyone again in November for Bands of America Grand National Championships.

“Last year at Grand Nationals, I was waiting in the tunnel for drum major awards and I was like, ‘Oh, I know them and them and them,’” Wooten said. “I’m not used to seeing all of them in their uniforms, just their athletic shorts and T-shirt.”

The connection for Miller goes back to Kick’s advice of saying thank you.

“I went to DCI Atlanta last year after this and [Kick] was speaking to a group of high school students and he recognized me,” she said. “So we connected and caught up. You make so many connections just by smiling and saying thank you.”

SWAG leader Antwan Eaves leads students to a small group meeting after the opening session for the Music For All leadership camp June 21. Participants met in groups based on how many times they have been to the camp. DN PHOTO BREANNA DAUGHERTY 

Concerts

Music For All provides free and paid concerts for the public during the weeklong event. All concerts are at John R. Emens Auditorium except for the last event Friday. Tickets are available at the auditorium’s box office and Ticketmaster.

Yamaha Young Performing Artists: 8 tonight, free

Atlantic Brass Quintet: 8 p.m. Tuesday

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy: 8 p.m. Wednesday

Christian Howes and Southern Exposure: 8 p.m. Thursday

Drum Corps International Central Indiana: 7 p.m. Friday at Scheumann Stadium featuring Phantom Regiment, Carolina Crown (2013 World Champions), Colts, Troopers, Pioneer and Blue Stars

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