By Andrew Danielson
The long hallways of PFW’s Music Center glisten in the morning sunshine. A seemingly endless row of doors line one side of the thoroughfare. Inside most of those doorways are pianos, all of which wait expectantly. This week, close to two dozen talented student pianists will be entering those doors and vigorously practicing on those pianos as part of the Gene Marcus Piano Camp & Festival.
Running from June 8-13, the camp offers an immersive experience with daily lessons and activities, including workshops, masterclasses, evening recitals, and group sessions.
This year, students coming to the camp were treated on opening day to a faculty recital Sunday evening followed by orientation and other information. For the next five days, the young pianists-in-residence will follow an invigorating schedule of piano study, taking piano lessons, playing and studying piano music, attending lectures by guest teachers, and attending masterclasses taught by faculty.
One of the many offerings at the camp is the chance to study with a guest artist – an expert in the field of piano playing and performing. This year’s artist is Thomas “TJ” Lymenstull, a graduate of the prestigious Eastman School of Music and a newly-retired faculty member from the Interlochen Academy of the Arts.
He will be performing a solo recital of repertoire on Monday, June 9, at Rinehart Recital Hall, as well as teaching a masterclass for the camp attendees.
Masterclasses are a unique opportunity for students to receive one-on-one instruction from a well-known specialist in the field. Lymenstull’s masterclass is only one of several such classes which students will be taking at the camp.
Now entering its 14th year, the Gene Marcus Piano Camp was founded and organized by PFW’s own Dr. Hamilton Tescarollo, now director of Keyboard Studies for the PFW School of Music.
Tescarollo explained that when he first came to PFW in 2007 as a new professor of piano, one of the first objectives he was asked to accomplish was to create a summer music camp for young pianists. And he was happy to tackle the challenge.
“It all started with encouraging piano playing in the area and beyond,” he said.
That love of encouraging piano playing is not new among PFW School of Music faculty. In fact, the entire reason such an event is even possible is due to a generous endowment that a former PFW music faculty member left to the school for such a purpose, Wilda “Gene” Marcus.
Tescarollo explained that Marcus had taught for roughly twenty years at PFW (then Indiana University -Purdue University Fort Wayne, or IPFW). A piano teacher with the then-department of Music faculty, Marcus had been heavily involved with the music life and scene of Fort Wayne.
In 2005, Marcus passed away, leaving an endowment to PFW’s School of Music to continue the effort of providing opportunities for young pianists.
Starting with his arrival at PFW in 2007, Tescarollo crafted and launched the brand new Gene Marcus Piano Camp in 2012 as one of the offerings provided by the College of Visual and Performing Arts through their Community Arts Academy.
Tescarollo and the other faculty of the camp are now hard at work getting ready to welcome pianists from all across the country.
“From the first one [camp], we had already opened it up to students from anywhere essentially,” Tescarollo said. “It is both a commuter camp and a residential camp.”
Attendees will consist of both commuters coming every day to study and residential campers who stay on campus in the PFW dormitory facilities. The cost for attending the camp ($450 – $550) includes lunch and dinner throughout the week.
Students come with some repertoire that they are ready to share in a public performance. Faculty at the camp then work with the students to polish that repertoire.
But students are learning more than how to polish their already-learned repertoire. In the course of a week, students will get a chance to watch and listen to guest artist recitals.
Some of the recitals are played by faculty teaching at the camp, including Dr. Jonathan Young, Christine Freeman, and Susan Dorion. Still other recitals will be played by young, up-and-coming piano artists, including Allyn Beifus and Andrew Nestler, both recent graduates and piano majors at the PFW School of Music.
Camp life, though, includes more than just piano study. New this year, students will have the opportunity to go kayaking right on the PFW campus. Friday afternoon, the last day of the camp, students will get the opportunity to walk around campus and celebrate the completion of a week of piano study.
The culmination of all that work? A concert Friday evening played by the student pianists of learned repertoire at the camp.
That final Friday performance of repertoire in front of one’s peers is part of the unique experiences provided at the Gene Marcus Piano Camp. As Tescarollo explained, one of the goals of the week is to give students experience in playing and performing their repertoire, both for each other and for their families.
Performing repertoire can be a daunting experience, but receiving instruction and tips from experienced performing pianists is part of what these student pianists will gain by attending.
“The idea is to inspire them to then practice and do this for the rest of the year,” Tescarollo stated. For him, encouraging piano students in their study and appreciation of the instrument is the key goal of the piano camp. And the camp attendees are responding very favorably to that encouragement.
“Many students come back over and over as much as possible [to the camp],” Tescarollo said.
Part of the experience that the camp offers student pianists is an opportunity to learn and grow as pianists.
“In some cases, there might be students who have never done a duet,” Tescarollo said. He explained that this camp provides students with an opportunity to learn and grow, but in a learning environment where they get to meet other like-minded young pianists who are also eager to learn.
That opportunity to get to meet and study with other young pianists is one of the great aspects of the camp.
“I hear about them keeping in touch throughout the year and they become friends,” Tescarollo said. “That’s a pretty wonderful thing.”
June 8-13 is just one short week that will come and go in the blink of the eye. But for the young pianists attending the Gene Marcus Piano Camp, that one week can influence them to greater artistic endeavors for a lifetime.
For more information, visit the Gene Marcus Piano Camp & Festival website.