What it's really about

Yeah, they're working on technique. They're refining their ensemble-playing skills. They're polishing their shared repertoire, getting the input of new teachers, performing, sharing ideas and inspiration. But this, this is what it's really about.

It's about the pleasure of being in the same place at the same time, and doing the same thing as a bunch of like-minded families and their amazing kids. It's about the chemistry between kids like these, who are having the most fantastic week getting to know each other. Hurrah for trips to the beach, for picnics and barbeques, for time off between classes spent playing on the teeter totters in the children's playground, hurrah for improv class where they tease each other both with words and by playing musical jokes on each other with call & response improvised riffs, and hurrah for the amazing faculty who clearly love working with teens.

A P.S. for those wondering about the fires. The major fire nearby seems to be burning itself out against some rocky bluffs in the high country. A single lane of the highway re-opened this morning with pilot-car shuttling. Half-hour delays to wait for the convoy, but that beats a three-hour detour hands down.