Northside Young Singers Music Camp
The William Baker Choral Foundation is pleased to announce our Northside Young Singers Music Camp in north Cobb County, Georgia. Campers are asked to bring from home a sack lunch each day. Please return the registration form along with your payment. We encourage early enrollment because of limited space. Please email Diane Taylor, Camp Director, for questions and assistance: DianeTay@aol.com.
Register online for Music Camp (bring your completed registration form to the 1st rehearsal)
Download Northside Young Singers Music Camp registration form
WHEN: June 21-25 from 9 am – 1pm each day
WHERE: Acworth United Methodist Church in Acworth, GA
WHO: Rising grades 2nd -12th
CONCERT PERFORMANCE: Friday, June 25th at 1 pm
COST: $110 (non-refundable) including a camp T-shirt. Cost is only $75 if you register prior to April 15th.
Benefits of Music Camp
This camp is designed to improve each camper’s musical skill by offering training in:
- proper vocal technique,
- musicianship,
- sight-singing,
- experiencing challenging works by master composers, and
- exploring different styles of music and singing in various languages.
Each camper will gain confidence in their ability to perform at a new level as they work toward their week-end concert performance.
Meet Our Camp Staff
Dr. William O. Baker, Director of Ensembles, Grades 9 – 12
Dr. William Baker is Creator and Director of the William Baker Choral Foundation, a national organization sponsoring twelve choirs in three states including the William Baker Festival Singers of Atlanta (originally the Gwinnett Festival Singers) and of Kansas City. He is also Founder of the DeKalb Choral Guild, the Kansas City Wind Symphony, the Youth Festival Singers of Atlanta. He has directed large touring youth choirs throughout the US and Canada having served as Minister of Music in several churches in the southeast and the Midwest.
His formal education includes studies in voice and conducting at Mercer University and the University of Georgia, culminating in the Doctor of Musical Arts from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Through the Choral Foundation he is active throughout the nation as a guest conductor and clinician, with appearances from Virginia to Washington and from South Dakota to Texas.
Lynn Swanson, Director of Ensembles, Grades 2 – 3 and 4 – 8
Lynn Swanson is a native of Marietta, Georgia and holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia. She studied organ and conducting with Helmut Melzer, Tom Alderman, Constantina Tsolineau and Alezander Mickelthwaite. She has served as Director of Music, directing children programs, handbells and adult choirs in several Cobb churches and as Organist for the Evangelische Kirche in Kronberg, Germany and Christ the King Anglican Church in Frankfurt, Germany. She is also the
Founder and Music Director of the Cobb Festival Singers, Cobb Summer Singers and Northside Young Singers. Ms. Swanson teaches voice and piano in private studio and in the Applied Lessons Department at The Lovett School.
Ivy Belk Pirl, Staff Accompanist
Ivy Belk Pirl is a native of Marietta and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance from Florida State University and a Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy from Georgia State University in Atlanta. She is a certified Kindermusik instructor, teaches piano in private studio and is a staff accompanist for the William Baker Choral Foundation.
Marci Olhausen, Handbells
Marci Olhausen has been a handbell enthusiast since falling in love with the art form as a middle school student. She has rung bells as a soloist, duetist, quartet member and church or community choir member throughout the US for the last thirty years. Some of her favorite handbell experiences were with the Purdue Universtiy Handbell Choirs, the Renaissance Ringers in northeast Ohio and the Atlanta Bronze Ensemble. She is the Founder and Director of the Youth Handbell Choir at Due West United Methodist Church.
Diane Taylor, Camp Director
Diane Taylor received her Bachelor of Music degree with an emphasis in music education from Lynchburg College in Lynchburg Virginia. She taught public school elementary music in Virginia for thirteen years and was church pianist for several churches in Virginia before moving to Acworth, Georgia in 1996. She has been the children’s choir director as well as pianist at Acworth United Methodist church from 1996 to the present. She also teaches piano in a private studio.
