Music Compound beats to its own drum with summer camp

The Music Compound summer camp is in full swing, and campers are learning to put on tunes with a variety of instruments.

The wide curriculum aims to introduce kids to different musical avenues and approaches in the hopes of inspiring them to keep on playing as they grow up.

"It's an intro to music," general studio manager Alyssa Martin said. "Every day is different. Piano, drums, guitar, vocals. There's always a performance on Friday."

At the most recent week, kids dove into learning the drums and the piano, two different styles of music with different approaches and energies. Camp counselors led students in measured drum rhythms while others took younger students to the studio rooms to teach them about finger placement and how to play "Hot Cross Buns."

Campers take intermittent breaks for snacks and lunch, not to mention the occasional step outside to play games. 

It's a tried and true practice that works for the music school, but this summer has been much busier than most. 

Behind the scenes, Music Compound staff are working hard to make sure the music plays on. The organization is set to open a new location in East County and that requires quite a bit of manpower, planning and dedication among staffers. The new location has a test run of sorts with a summer camp with a fewer number of students that started July 18.

The new camp also requires instruments. While the Music Compound has expanded its reach with another center, it hasn't yet increased its inventory fully to provide for both locations. As such Martin, Music Compound owner Jenny Townsend and other staff have been transporting instruments back and forth between the locations depending on what campers are learning each week.

"We do different (instruments) each week so we're not butting heads when it comes to the instruments we have," Martin said. "Right now we have all the pianos, but next week we'll be shuffling them to East County."

It's a more peculiar juggling act than staff typically handle each summer, but more business is better than less. 

"So far we've had a great summer," Martin said.