Music To Our Ears

For the first time in six years, Kabeyun campers recorded musical albums during the summer of 2023.

The two albums, entitled “Whenever the Rain Flows” (Session I) and “The Session of the Sheep” (Session II) contain original music written and performed by Kabeyun campers. In all, 34 campers contributed to the albums, led by music counselor Aaron Finglass.

Aaron structured the project in a way that invited campers to participate in a variety of ways and with varying time commitments. Overall, it encouraged collaboration and creativity.

“It’s not a concept album, there was no one genre,” said John Sellar, a 2023 Panther who plays on 8 of 13 tracks on “The Session of the Sheep,” including guitar, bass, drums, and vocals.

Perhaps more than any other camper, John devoted many activity periods to the album and co-wrote songs with cabin mate Harrison Bardel during rest hours, play swim, and evening activities.

Although he’s a lifelong musician, this was John’s first time recording with others. He liked learning to work in a group and has found he’s now more at ease writing lyrics with his current bandmates at home.

Did it bother him that other campers would come and go?

“No, not at all,” John said, “Music is a very big part of my life and I like to share it. The biggest surprise was some of the people who’d drop in. There were people who you’d look at and think, ‘I can’t imagine that kid doing anything musical!’ And then they’d come to music, sit down, and lay down a track!”

That’s exactly the welcoming environment Aaron sought to create. He recently spoke with Laura Remington about the project.

Tell me about the writing process.

The kids wrote all the songs on the album, mostly in Week 1 [and 5]. We’d go out in the woods behind the Lodge. I’d give them a prompt and we’d write for 10-15 minutes.

Then what?

Then we’d try to collaborate. Maybe one camper would play an instrument, or I would, and campers would try to sing something they wrote. In general, they’d write lyrics first and then we’d try putting the words to melodies. That was my approach because it’s easier for kids who aren’t musically inclined. Some kids were more focused and structured than others. They’d arrive with songs they had made up. Wally Cook had full songs in his head, didn’t even need to write them down! Other kids were more into the recording and production aspects. For example, I showed Theodore Allen-Shack how to work the machine and he really took to it.

What’s “the machine?”

The Tascam 24-track digital recorder. It looks like a tape recorder but it’s all digital. It’s really a niche recording style. Nowadays, a lot of people record on their laptops but at camp that wouldn’t fly. The Tascam is very cool, very tactile. You take all the instruments and microphones and plug their cords into the machine. The campers can move the microphones and the fader knobs to figure out what sounds best.

It sounds as though different kids connected to this project in different ways.

Yes, for certain. You did not need to play an instrument to take part in making this album. You could be a writer. You could help set up the microphones, or play an instrument, or design the cover art. It was really cool because the various roles campers played resembled actual jobs in the music world. The kid who came to play the piano, he would be a session musician. The camper who operated the machine, he’d be the audio engineer or the producer. Some people just had ideas and we were glad for that, too. Recording music really does allow for that kind of diversity, even more than performing live.

Had you ever done anything like this before?

Not really. In the past few years, I’ve been getting more into songwriting and recording my own music. Right before camp, I took a home recording class. It was a whole philosophy, and it turned out that philosophy was conducive to camp. I’d taken other music classes, too, and I earned my master’s in education and taught English in high school and middle school. But, no, I had never worked with kids in this exact role. It was so fulfilling.

You had another big accomplishment this summer, creating the “Sound Garden.”

Yeah, we turned the old Riflery Shack into a spot for music! We’d been using the Lodge, which was fine, but often there were people doing other activities there. Ken Robbins and Andy Cole suggested trying the Riflery Shack. It took about a day to clean it out. Campers helped set it up and decorate. It was fantastic. Having that space really made a difference for us creating these albums.

You’ll find Kabeyun’s 2023, 2017, and 2016 albums here.