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"Greetings
from Ooooneonta,
"And the New York State Muuuusic Caaaaamp!"
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Dr.
Bob Swift and Keisuke
Hoashi in 2004
Dr.
Bob Swift during the final concert of the 1984 NYSMC season
Keisuke Hoashi and a LOT of hair at NYSMF 1982
Founder
of NYSMC, Dr. Frederic Fay Swift, giving his final speech
at his beloved camp in 1984.
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Welcome
to the only site dedicated to the New York
State Music Camp on the entire World Wide Web.
I hope
you will join in the fun and memories I've gathered here,
and feel inspired to share your stories with me here on nysmc.com! APPROVED BY DR. BOB
This site has
been approved by the legendary Dr. Bob, aka Dr. Robert F. Swift
of Plymouth
College in New Hampshire. Dr. Bob was at NYSMC from its very
beginning in 1947 at Otter Lake, NY, and there is no one more
NYSMC than he.
IT
ALL STARTED WITH A DOMAIN NAME ...
I
purchased NYSMC.com a few years ago, after discovering there
not to be a single page anywhere dedicated to
our beloved old music camp. The domain name just happened to
come available at just that moment, and without a second thought,
I snapped it up.
And
immediately found I was stuck. What would I put on the site?
Why would I put it up in the first place? And what did I actually
KNOW about this venerable summer music institution, aside from
my three glorious summers as a camper in 1982 - 1984?
Fortunately,
my exhaustive internet searches for "The New York State Music
Camp" had turned up a possibility. An official history had been
written for the camp's 50th anniversary, and it was listed
on Amazon.com
- "Music From the Mountains, the New York State Music Camp 1947
- 1996" by Dr. Robert Frederic Swift.
FINDING DR. BOB
A
little more searching unearthed Dr.
Bob's email and address at Plymouth College in New Hampshire,
where he has been teaching choral music for a few decades. After
feeling unaccountably awkward and shy about writing to him for
a copy of his book - after all, we'd not even spoken for over
twenty years at that time, and I had never been much of a choir
guy at NYSMC - I wrote him to ask for a copy.
Dr.
Bob instantly wrote back a charming letter; told me he'd be happy
to dig out a copy from the box or two left lying around the house;
and actually remembered who I was! A couple of rounds of letters
later, and I had his NYSMC Opus in my hands. It's now integrated
into this website in its entirety here.
However,
I wasn't going to do that without asking permission! I have
made my living as a creative artist for many years now (check
me out on IMDB),
so I am all for copyright rights.
So I
plucked up my courage again and asked Dr. Bob for permission
to
post his
entire
book
up on
the
NYSMC.com
website.
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By
this time, it was right at the start of the 58th season of
NYSMC, and Dr. Bob was going to be directing the choirs for the
final two weeks. I was going to be on the east coast anyway
for a
wedding in Baltimore, so I figured, what the heck, why not go up
and visit the old camp and talk with Dr. Bob in person?
A
MOST UNEXPECTED RETURN
So
on July 29, 2004, in a rented car I picked up from the Albany
Airport, I drove back into my fondest memories of my teenage
years. Arriving in the late evening, I decided to drive up
to campus to look around before our meeting the next morning
-- after all, I had never driven onto the Hartwick College
campus before, the last time I had been there, I was still
four years away from getting my drivers lisence.
My
reaction took me utterly by surprise. As I turned up the hill
leading to Smith Hall, where I had roomed for two summers in
the 1980s, I actually was having trouble breathing. I pulled
into the parking lot between Yager and Anderson Halls, and
stepped outside, astonished to actually find tears prickling
under my eyelids.
Twenty
years almost to the very day when I thought I would never see
the place again. And here was I back in one of my sweetest
dreams. Memories of people everywhere leapt instantly to my
mind: here was where Tony Kadleck, the best trumpet player
I'd ever known, actually apologized to me when I did not get
voted into a counselor job in 1984; a few steps behind me was
where Hugo Lentze, my rival for the affections of Tina Crape
in 1982, followed me back to the dorm and halfheartedly threw
rocks in my general direction (he wasn't really trying to hit
me); and up the hill, in Yager Hall, was the classic ancient
Otis Elevator which was the gateway to so many exciting rehearsals
and cute girls.
It
got better.
TWENTY
TWO YEARS
Arriving
at Festival Choir rehearsal (known as Concert Choir in my day)
at 9:30am the next day, Dr. Bob greeted me as an old friend
-- and asked me if I wouldn't mind saying a few words to the
choir. I assented, and right after warmups, he said:
"For
how many of you is this your first year at camp? How many of
you started two years ago? Three years? Well, we've got someone
today who first came here TWENTY-TWO years ago." ("Ooooooooh"
went the campers!) "He is an actor in Hollywood, California
now, and he's come back to visit. Everyone please welcome him,
Keisuke Hoashi."
Someone
shouted out, after the initial applause, "Sing us a song!"
Instantly I went into my rendition of "Haupen Zie Gehirt Das
Deutche Band" from "The Producers" right there on the conductor's
podium, something I would NEVER had considered doing when I
was a camper - and they let me run on for nearly five minutes.
I remember telling them how lucky they were, and how I wished
I were still a kid like them, so that I could go to a camp
like this and spend my whole summer making great music and
great friends.
I
even got to sing along from memory -- Dr. Bob pulled out "Henry
the Eighth" for that week's concert repertoire, which I had
sung with him in 1982, and here's a clip!
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Tony
Kadleck, Hector Flegma (aka Brian Roggero), and me,
trumpets; and Steve
Kessler and Steve
Davis, trombone, in the final
concert, NYSMC Jazz Ensemble, 1984
Contemporary
jazz legend Mike
Holober and Tony
Kadleck struggle to master the last stand cello
in the NYSMF Concert Orchestra, 1983
Dr.
Jonathan Babcock, age 13, around the time he received his
first set of bagpipes, NYSMF Concert Orchestra, 1983
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THE
MAGIC OF BROOK'S
Dr.
Bob took me to Brook's Barbecue
in Oneonta for lunch -- a legendary NYSMC hangout to which
I'd never been before -- and over messy, delicious BBQ chicken,
we stepped past the boundary of Conductor/Student and became,
for the first time, real friends. And to my request to put
his book online at NYSMC.com, Dr. Bob gave his unqualified
blessing, even before I offered to put "for sale" links
up for it, too.
With
his assent, it was time to meet the dreaded Administration
("Ooooooooooh"). We headed back to meet with the camp's current director to "clear" the
project with her, as it was directly related to the camp she
was running, and would simply be a matter of courtesy.
Not only did she give the camp's official OK, she immediately asked me to join the camp in 2005 as a Guest Artist.
I
agreed.
FROM ACTOR TO WEB DESIGNER TO HCSMFI/NYMSC FACULTY
The
next year, I found myself teaching at my old music camp. The incredible
results are documented at hicksmuffy.com,
where I posted videos, pictures, and news for my extraordinary students,
who truly made
my first major teaching experience beyond anything I ever imagined.
In
fact, my turn as the camp's instructor of Musical Theatre increased
to Acting Teacher, Filmmaking Teacher, videographer, technician,
and plenty of other jobs where my background in technology and
acting filled a niche they didn't even know was empty at camp!
After the end of my unforgettable 4 weeks at camp, the camp director recognized my worth by offering me a promotion to Assistant Camp Director for 2006. I accepted on the spot.
Unfortunately, Hartwick chose not to rehire her back, meaning my dizzying ascent into NYSMC was finished.
Or was it? |
IT'S TIME FOR YET ANOTHER NYSMC SPINOFF!
In 2006, I helped to co-found a new music camp up the road at SUNY Oneonta. We named it the New York Summer Music Festival, or NYSMF.
In addition to teaching, I did become one of the camp's directors. I assumed the title of "Director of Communications," an accurate all-encompassing description of the myriad other duties I took on.
For 7 years, I helped make NYSMF a success, doubling its enrollment while striving every day to keep it true to Dr. Swift's original vision. My association with them ended in 2013. I am incredibly proud of my tenure, hosting over 400 public concerts, and guiding my own writing and acting students into producing more than 20 original one-act musicals and over 100 short films.
THANK
YOU.
Thank
you, Dr. Bob; thank you to your great father, Dr. F.F.
Swift; your wonderful sister, Reverend
D.F. Swift; and to everyone who helped
make this site possible.
This
site, remember, is for you, dear NYSMC alumnus. I hope this
site can help you all re-open your personal troves
of NYSMC memories, which, now that I think about it, is the
only reason I bought this little five-letter domain name back
in 2003.
We've
got a home on the internet now forever. Thanks for stopping
by. Stay in touch.
Love
and memories --
--Keisuke
Hoashi
Los Angeles, CA
March 20, 2015
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