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an experience of music and community

There is never a shortage of activities at The Woods. A common lament at the end of the week is that there were just so many more things that didn't get done! Well, there's always next year!


Each year, one of the campers writes about his or her personal highlights of the camp. Check out Sue Goldberg's musings on 1998, complete with pictures! Or Jean Mills' thoughts on her very first Woods in 1999, or a followup from Arnie Naiman for his banjo class.

What follows is a handful of photographs that illustrate the Woods' experience.


The Grounds
The Lake Rosseau College grounds encompass several beautiful acres of hills, woods, trails and college buildings. Meals, dances, and concerts take place in the Main Hall, while most classes and workshops happen in 3 adjacent buildings. Campers are accommodated in small clusters of buildings with college dormitory-style rooms, equipped with bunk beds and desks, common areas and shared washroom and shower facilities.

Classes

Classes Classes usually include from 5 to 15 students. There is a selection of beginner, intermediate and advanced classes each year, but the mixture and the subject matters vary according to the staff. Pictured here is James Keelaghan talking about songwriting in 1994.

Outside Classes While most classes occur in a college classroom setting, some get moved outdoors on a sunny day! Rick Fielding took advantage of the (typically) nice weather to move his guitar students into the fresh Muskoka air.

Dancing

Evening Dance An important part of every evening is the dance. The Woods organizers always make sure that a dance caller and a dance band are part of the staff. Dancing begins after supper and the evening concerts (a welcome way to work off the meals!) and often goes on until approaching midnight - or until the band is too tired to continue!

Dance Instruction Dancers of all skill levels are welcome. The caller first walks everyone through each dance, so that the inexperienced can learn what the calls mean and have as much fun as everyone else! Instruction continues, as necessary, all week; but by the end of the first night the caller usually has everybody pretty well organized.

Outside Dance Spontaneous dancing sometimes occurs! As do spontaneous jams, concerts, tutorials and harmony sessions. If you like to dance, play along or even just watch, you will find no shortage of opportunities!

Free Time

On the dock
The facilities include a beautiful dock floating on Lake Rosseau. It's common to find people playing, singing, swimming, canoeing, sunning and sleeping....at all hours of the day and night! The Northern Lights have been spotted from this dock. There are also a tennis court and lots of places to go walking.
Duet
There is a block of "free time" every afternoon, which quickly gets filled with musical activities. One free time program is "give and get", in which staff and campers sign up to teach each other a particular skill. But the most common scene is a group of from two to twenty people, singing and playing around a rock or a picnic table. Or sometimes.....
Bass .....doing homework alone, by the lakeshore. Trees

Photographs by Jack Cole, Arne Glassbourg, Eve Goldberg, Karen Kaplan, Ellen Long.
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