Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1947-08-22

also are added to the repertoire, SO
mat students have a chance to COM
blne vocal and instrumental prac-
tlce-not of scales and exercises,
but in the actual performance of in
teresting music. By the tenth day.
the entire group is ready to gather
around the piano in Stephen Foster
hall and sing the classical master
works of Brahms and Schubert, and
the less familiar choral compost.
lions of Roger and Bruckner.
Although music is the camps
reason for being, its unifying
force, the Traps also see to it
that their visitors have a good
portion of more conventional
activities that go with a sum-
mer in the mountains.
During each Today Sing Week
there is an all-day hike up Mount
Mansfield Zone of New England's
scenic landmarks), which looms up
just behind the camp. Another ex-
curslon takes the group to Lake Ell
more for an entire day of SWIM
ming and singing in the sun and
third offers a picnic on the nearby
Irapp family farm, closing with
big bonfire and then a story hour in
the living-room of the famous fam
ily's own home.
Uninterrupted Music.
But none of these trips is an in
terruption to the musical activities:
Recorders and song books are
packed up along with the picnic
lunch. Each day. there is folk dane
ing on the camps grounds, with the
Baroness Won Trapp and her chill
dren as leaders in the traditional
dances of their native Tyrol and
also in many traditional American
square dances picked up in the
course of their transcontinental
travels.
The Trapp Family Music Camp
is not one of those resorts, however,
where every moment is so occupied
with organized activity that the va
catlonlst has no time to indulge his
own tastes and preferences. There
is free time every day during which
the campers may get in some addi-
tional music practice. hike, fish,
swim or just plain rest
For music-loving youngsters who
cannot afford the camps moderate
fees, scholarships have been estab-
lished for high school and college
students between the ages of 16 and
Is. Twelve boys and girls were of
fered tuition, room and board at
half price. during each of this
years four Sing Weeks, in en-
change for helping the daughters of
the family at mealtimes, in the
kitchen and mess hall. There are
also several scholarships through
which students may work full-time,
during three of the weeks, in ex-
change for room and board only,
and then may attend the fourth
week as fully-participating campers
with all expenses free.
Boost Home Music.
Although members of the Trap
family and Father Washer all find
much pleasure in the good-fellow-
ship which they enjoy with their
guests, they are even happier in
the knowledge that the camp is a
means of helping to bring music
back into the American home.
"The singing home is happy
home" they believe, "and a
common interest in music is
wonderful aid to family unity"
Moreover. they point out. single
Individual who knows how to organ
ize musical activities in the COM
munity is potent force for good,
since cooperation in song can lay
the groundwork for a healthier atti-
tude of give-and-take in every
phase of civic life. Evidence of the
family's success, even within the
three short summers of the camps
history, is the organization of
groups of "Stowe Singers" by
alumni of the Trap Family Music
Camp, who have carried back to
their home towns all over America
not only a sheaf of songs and an
understanding of how to sing them,
but also belief in music as vital