Equal in beauty to the scenes of nature in the Adirondacks were the natural sounds.

To begin with was the quietness, so still that it could be both heard and felt. That natural stillness when experienced as a young person provides a lifelong memory and frame of reference. As we grow older and live in other places, too often sounds clamor for attention and become intrusive.

There could have been no better setting for the first years of the New York State Music Camp than Otter Lake, in the southwestern region of the Adirondack Park.

That locale is noted by several alumni of the earliest seasons as part of the mystique of the camp experience.

* * *

Each morning began in stillness that had developed gradually through the preceding night. At dusk one might hear the occasional distant frog or sound of evening songbirds, but with darkness there also fell quietness. During the night the lake mysteriously turned into a mirror. Early mornings one could stand at lakeside and see the perfect reflection of boats tied to docks, and the nearby cottages almost hidden in the trees, and the few uninhabited sections of the shore where the forest came right down to the water. If the sky were cloudless, the day was already off to a great start! And if one were fortunate enough to be able to cast the first stone into this mirror-lake - with a big, arching launch - the sound would be a musical plohk!, and the ripples for the day would then begin.

Such are the memories of beautiful summer mornings in the Adirondacks. The French poet René Daumal wrote, "Each time dawn appears, the mystery is there in its entirety."1

Another natural sound framed by the quietness of the forest was the plaintive song of the white-throated sparrow, "Old Sam Peabody." Of all the Adirondack summer birds (of which there are easily 100 species),2 this song was most evocative of the region. One could hear it any time of day, but it was most distinctive in early morning or late evening: mi - sol - sol - sol - sol. So simple and so beautiful - one call was never enough. With patience it soon would be repeated, often from a more distant location.

Thunderstorms were not common at Otter Lake, and only on occasion would thunderclaps be deafening and frightening fortissimos. More common were the distant rumblings while the rain fell insistently but quietly. Cloudbursts were rare. The night rains on the roofs of the music camp cottages and Retto Lodge provided a gentle rhythm that would lull even the most inveterate insomniac to sleep. Quiet always followed a rainstorm.

* * *

The quietness provided an aural framework, an aesthetic distance not only for rehearsals and concerts but also for the everyday sounds of living at a summer camp. There was the dinner bell announcing meals from the back door of the main building (formerly the hotel). Its tones were not very loud, but they somehow carried to the farthest regions of music camp property, and even to the tennis courts and the village fire station the next lot over, beyond the overgrown service road.

There were the happy sounds of waterfront activities and swimming, interrupted by occasional warning whistles from the lifeguard on duty. There were the more intimate, softer sounds of conversations on the porch or at the Snaque Bar or on "the point." That was a small isthmus of land with a narrow path that extended beyond the boathouse and made the swimming area into a cove. Blueberries grew there.

"The Point" - Dollar and Crescent Islands in Background

The music camp seasons for 1947 and 1948 were six weeks in length. The 1947 camp began on July 1 and ended August 11.

The faculty and their areas for the 1947 season were as follows:

Mornings began at 7:30. (For the kitchen staff they began an hour earlier.) Reveille was played every day of the week except Sunday. The bugler stood on the southwest corner of the first-floor porch which extended on three sides of the old hotel. From that location the sound could be heard from most bedrooms in the main building where the girls stayed and from the lakeside cottages which housed the boys.

Taps was also played at the end of the day from the corner of the first-floor porch. Occasionally a second bugler would provide the echo for taps from the point. On at least one occasion the echo was performed a half-step higher in pitch than the original. Fortunately most of the campers could tell the difference.

Doris Stark DeQuinze served as trumpeter during the 1948 season. She recounts the following:

I was the Camp Soloist and bugler. I got the kids up in the morning and put them to bed at night. The very last day of camp, after I sounded the call to "Rise and Shine," a group of kids waited for me - then picked me up and threw me into the lake - horn and all! 3

The daily schedule for the first two or three seasons follows.

Evening activities included dances on Tuesdays and Fridays, a class in Stage and Radio Technics on Wednesdays, student recitals on Thursdays, and concerts on Saturdays. Monday evenings were unscheduled and would occasionally include "in-town" excursions to Old Forge or Boonville for movies. Campers were transported the 30-45 minute trips either in private autos driven by faculty and staff, or sometimes on buses.

Dr. Joseph Saetveit, a professor of music at State Teachers College at Geneseo and later New York State Supervisor of Music, was Vice-President of the camp during this time. He purchased a second-hand school bus which slowly but inevitably arrived at its destination with campers aboard. The bus was dubbed "Constipation," because it couldn't pass anything.

F.F Swift (seated) and Joseph Saetveit in Otter Lake Camp Office

A Board of Directors was established to oversee the operation of the music camp at Otter Lake. In 1948 the Board consisted of Frederic Fay Swift, President; Henry H. Kent, Secretary; Ruth Ainslie Swift, Treasurer; and Walter S. Beeler, Leon M. Dussault, J. Vivian Norton, and J. Maynard Wettlaufer. Mr. Wettlaufer also served as Assistant Camp Director. Names of Board members are given in the 1948 brochure, the first printed. Included in it is a report on the 1947 (premier) season.

During the summer eleven concerts were presented with an estimated audience of more than 10,000 people. A broadcast was given over WIBX, Utica. Guest conductors were Ole Winclingstad, Elvin L. Freeman, President of the New York State School Music Association, and Leon M. Dussault, Director of the Little Falls Symphony. The Band enrolled 45 students, the Little Symphony Orchestra 35, and the Choir 50. Twelve students were enrolled in the Twirler Camp. 4

Twirlers

A resident camp nurse was employed during all nine seasons at Otter Lake. The camp doctor was Robert Lindsay, M.D., of Old Forge. Although he made occasional "camp calls," the common practice was to drive campers who needed special attention the twelve miles up Route 28 to his office on Main Street.

By 1949 the camp offered instruction in drama and painting. Baton twirling instruction had been provided from the very first season. Miss Doris Leibfried of Hartwick College headed the drama program; Mrs. Regina Gates of Port Byron was art instructor. Maynard Velier of Oil City, PA, directed the twirling program.

Twirlers

The music camp presented 54 programs during the 1949, eight-week season to more than 30,000 listeners. (Presentations at the Boonville Fair helped to increase the numbers. ) Concerts were presented not only in the Otter Lake Concert Hall but also at the lakeside concert pavilion at Old Forge, Higby's Club, Cohasset Club, Holley Lodge, the Boonville Fair, and the Utica Municipal Park. These "outreach performances" added immeasurably to the reputation of the music camp.

Radio station WIBX Utica each week during the summer broadcast a 30-minute program originating from the camp. A recording crew from the station brought their tape-recording equipment up to Otter Lake. There in the Concert Hall with doors secured and signs posted, the choirs would perform "live." In later years instrumental ensembles were added.

Recording sessions were tense. The goal was a good "first take," for additional tries invariably resulted in additional problems, musical or otherwise.

The building had no cellar nor attic nor insulation. It was not heated and, even worse, not air-conditioned. Midsummer afternoon temperatures at Otter Lake easily climbed into the 80's. With doors tightly secured and windows closed because of acoustical concerns, many recording sessions doubled as saunas. With the successful conclusion the doors and windows were thrown open, and campers would make a beeline for the lake, some without taking time to change to bathing suits.

Each of the radio programs began with the "Theme." The pianist would play an arpeggiated C7 chord, then play a tonic F and the choir would sing, "Greetings from the Adirondacks, and the New York State Music Camp." (Beginning in 1956 the meter was changed from 4 to 3, and "the Adirondacks" was changed to "Oneonta.") The melody and harmonic progression remained the same. That theme continued to open Radio (later Select) Choir performances right up through 1984, Dr. Swift's final year as Camp Director.

For the Otter Lake recordings, once the theme was sung the choir would move into a humming theme composed by Dr. Swift, and the radio announcer would then with mellifluous tones begin his narration, "Yes, friends, from the beautiful Adirondack village of Otter Lake we bring you musical greetings from the New York State Music Camp..."

Every afternoon a train traveled northward through Otter Lake. Many campers arrived on it at the beginning of the season and departed on it at the end. Even if there was no reason to stop at the depot, the train would announce its arrival with the steam whistle every afternoon. That meant that the recording sessions had to be stopped by whatever moment the whistle sounded. Generally it worked, but if the train were early or late, everybody was steamed.

* * *

Conductors of ensembles in 1949 were as follows.

By the fourth season (1950) the number of classes had doubled. They now included nonmusical offerings. The daily schedule also had likewise been altered to an order that was to remain essentially the same for decades to follow.

Performing organizations now numbered six:

1. Concert Choir
2. Radio Choir
3. Orchestra
4. Concert Band
5. Junior Dance Band
6. Senior Dance Band

Evening programs were specified:

• Monday, "In Town"
• Tuesday, "Student Recitals"
• Wednesday, Higby's Concerts [ Higby's was a plush resort north of Old Forge for which the music camp provided weekly entertainment ]
• Thursday, Camp Beach Programs
• Friday, Camp Dance
• Saturday, Otter Lake Concerts
• Sunday, Old Forge Concerts, Musical Vespers

All campers were encouraged but not required to participate in religious services during the Otter Lake years. St. Mary of the Snows held Roman Catholic services, and the interdenominational Community Church provided Sunday morning worship for Protestants. Located right on Route 28, one could walk to either church within minutes from the camp.

Music camp faculty, staff, and students frequently provided special music for services at these and other churches in the region, some as far distant as Big Moose and Alder Creek. This sharing of talents and "returning of thanks" has continued to the present day as vocal and instrument soloists and ensembles have performed without remuneration in countless worship services.

At Otter Lake there were Sunday afternoon Vespers Services held in the Concert Hall at 5:00. Individual faculty and staff organized and ran these 20-minute worship programs.

The program of August 7, 1949, began with an organ prelude, "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." Two poems were next read, "I Have a Rendezvous with God," and "God's Temples." An organ solo followed, Mozart's "Ave Verum." Psalm 98 was read. The congregation then stood to sing two stanzas of the hymn tune Maryton, "O Master, let me walk with Thee." Another organ solo, Bach's "Komm Süsser Tod" was played. The service ended with the recitation of The Lord's Prayer. Dr. Joseph Saetveit led the service; John Becker was organist.

That particular Sunday a voice recital followed. Dr. Lloyd Sunderman was soloist. He was accompanied by Mrs. Joseph Saetveit.

Otter Lake Concert Hall

Dr. Swift faced two devastating events during the Otter Lake years of the music camp. They occurred within two years of each other. Each was to affect him deeply as an individual and as a camp director.

On August 12, 1950, his wife of twenty years died. Ruth Eleanor Ainslie was born July 1, 1907. ( He was born the same year but on March 6, giving him a head start of nearly four months. ) She was the daughter of the Baptist minister in Ilion. She taught high school English and Latin in nearby Herkimer. She also sang in the church choir, and the two of them met when the new music teacher took the position of choir director at the Baptist Church. They were married in 1930 and honeymooned in the Adirondacks.

She shared his vision of what the music camp could be. She invested her own money in it. She served as camp treasurer in the first years. She worked closely with the camp faculty and staff and frequently with him would entertain them at Retto Lodge. She promoted the Vespers Services and organized many of them. She bore him three children - a daughter Nancy in 1935, a son Robert in 1940, and another son David in 1944. The family moved to Oneonta, New York, in 1948, where Dr. Swift accepted the invitation to develop a music education program at Hartwick College.

In 1949 she was medically diagnosed as having cancer. She underwent treatment in Sayre, Pennsylvania, at what was to become the noted Guthrie Clinic. Her condition did not improve, and by summer of 1950 she was bedridden. The fourth season of the camp opened and proceeded at Otter Lake, but the Camp Director was driving the four-hour round trip between Otter Lake and Oneonta numerous times in June, July, and early August.

The saddest return was the mid August sunny morning when he met his three children at the music camp and drove them to the other side of the lake to Retto Lodge - a ride in which no one spoke a word. There in the living room he told them that their mother had gone to be with God. Nancy was 15, Robert was 10, David was 6.

The funeral was held at the United Presbyterian Church in Oneonta. Located on the corner of Main Street and Walling Avenue, the church was opposite from the family's home - where Friendly's Restaurant now stands. Several music camp faculty and staff attended the service, some of whom served as pallbearers. At the Final Concert of the 1950 season a large portrait of the music camp was presented by the campers to Dr. Swift in memory of his wife. It was painted by Mrs. Gates, the art instructor, and it hangs to this day in the family living room.

The second sad event also occurred in August, almost two years to the day after the passing of Mrs. Swift. A camper drowned.

Stephen St. John attended camp for the first time that 1952 season. He played percussion and guitar very well. He came from Schenectady, New York, and was a student of Willard Musser, who recommended he attend the New York State Music Camp to study percussion with George Clasgens. Stephen was also a close friend of Tom Brown.

He was a close friend of mine from Mont Pleasant High School, and his guitar and my vibes were what brought us together. We often played for special events and dances around the Capital District. I went to Otter Lake the summer of '51 and Steve went up in '52. In fact, he took the timpani position that I had played the year before. We shared a lot of common interests besides our music and composing. 5

For some reason that will never be known, Stephen finished dinner that August evening, left the dining room alone, walked down to the lake, and by himself climbed into a canoe and pushed off shore. He had not indicated to anyone his plans. He had not received permission to use the canoe nor to go boating immediately after dinner. In fact, he had never been given boating permission as he did not swim well.

What next occurred was witnessed by one music camper who happened to be on his way to his cabin. Now on the faculties of the Juilliard School of Music and Peabody Conservatory, Tom Grubb provided this detailed recountal.

It was August 11, 1952, I believe. A weekday evening, about 6:40. I remember what took place that evening as if it were yesterday. I was on my way back to my cabin to get dressed. As I turned onto the path down the hill to Cabin W, just to the right of the Music Hall, I noticed someone in a canoe not far from the camp's raft right in the middle of our area of the lake between "The Point" and the lake shore. The setting sun was right in my eyes and was reflected on the water's surface so brightly that I could not make out who it was in the canoe, but I thought it strange that someone would be on the camp's waters after hours. No one was allowed in or on the water after 5 o'clock in the afternoon, ever, so I naturally assumed it was someone unconnected to the camp. I continued toward the cabin. Just as I reached the point where the path veers to the left, I saw the occupant of the canoe stand up, teeter about a few seconds and, before I knew it, fall (or jump) into the water. In that short time I determined that it was a tall man with a swimmer's build. He seemed to be horsing around, and I expected him to climb back into the canoe or at least grab hold of it. Instead, he started floundering around in the water. To my surprise he had chosen to leave both the canoe and the raft and make his way toward the point. We all had to pass a rather rigorous swimming test in order to be allowed to swim out to the raft. There was always a lifeguard on duty when we did. Although I myself was a qualified swimmer, my common sense told me not to jump in and try to assist this fellow who, in my pre-teen eyes, appeared to be an adult almost twice my height. I ran past the beach, up toward the cabin called Winds, yelling "Help!" at the top of my lungs. By the time I reached the Point, only a few seconds later, there was nothing visible but the bobbing canoe and the raft on the surface of the water. Just as I realized that he had disappeared, I looked up at the camp now visible across the water and saw people streaming from the hotel, running down toward the lake. Before I knew it, older boys were diving into the water where I directed them to where he might have gone under. This went on for what seemed like an eternity when the Otter Lake Fire Department arrived. Before long they found him, but quite a few feet from where I had last seen him. Later on it was determined that he panicked and swam parallel to the Point's shore. No one went near the lake for over a week, and by then we must have been near the end of the season. Finally one day, not long before it was time to go home, I decided that I, for one, had to go swimming one more time before the summer at Otter Lake was over. I can still see the lifeguard's surprised face when he saw me. "You, of all people!," he remarked, and then said, "Have a good swim." And I guess I did, because I returned to Otter Lake and the New York State Music Camp for as long as it remained there. But the lake had changed for us all. We now had a respectful fear of it. When we tearfully said our good-byes in the hotel parking lot that summer of 1952, we knew more about life (and death) than we had when we arrived in June. 6

That event left an indelible mark on the memories of all who were a part of the 1952 season. Jean Thurner taught life-saving and water safety classes. Her students immediately changed into bathing suits to assist in the search. One of her students was Nancy Swift, daughter of the camp director.

We had picked blueberries that day and Mrs. Dussault, whose summer camp was down the road, had made a fresh pie for us. We were seated on the porch eating it when the fire whistle sounded the alarm. We hurried back to the music camp. No one knew who had fallen from the canoe, so all were sent back to their rooms so that attendance could be taken. Then Jean Thurner instructed those of us who were enrolled in life-saving to get dressed and begin the search in the water. We all were scared. On the one hand, we wanted to find the body; on the other, we were frightened that we would. 7

Fred Mills wrote of the incident:

I remember Steve St. John, who was such a talented musician on the guitar. His tragedy was all campers', and your dad led us all through that with such grace. I think music got us all through that. 8

George Schermerhorn, now Executive Director of the Community Music School in Allentown, PA, recalled the incident from another vantage point.

I, too, remember well fishing with you the evening Stephen St. John drowned. I remember, too, your dad being so concerned that the accident had happened to one of us. 9

 

One of Stephen St. John's musical compositions was a vocal solo he had written entitled "Blessed Is God." Dr. Swift that autumn arranged the work for mixed chorus and piano, and it was subsequently published by Belwin, Inc. He and Mr. Musser journeyed to Schenectady to attend Stephen's funeral.

By the seventh season at Otter lake it was becoming evident that the days for the New York State Music Camp at Otter Lake were numbered. For three reasons a move to a new location was inevitable. First was size.

Enrollment at the 1947 camp numbered 64. "Students from four states attended. Unfortunately some students had to be turned away because the Camp facilities would accommodate only 100 students and faculty." 10 The Band numbered 45, the Orchestra 35, the Choir 50. Twelve twirlers attended.

Children of the Faculty
The author is on the top step;
his younger brother David is fifth down.

In 1948 the student enrollment had increased to 98, a 57% growth. Campers that summer came from six states plus Costa Rica. In 1949 the number increased again, to 119 campers. Eight states and Canada were represented. At the conclusion of the eight-week programs the New York State School Music Association held summer music reading clinics on the site of the Camp. Close to 150 teachers and administrators from around the state participated, some commuting from motels as far away as Old Forge, Boonville, and even Utica. With each succeeding summer program Dr. Swift added new offerings.

Plays and art exhibits were given in Big Moose as well as Otter Lake. Concerts were given in Boonville, Utica, Inlet, Old Forge, and at several of the hotels on the Fulton Chain of Lakes .... A Red Cross Life Saving program was inaugurated with eleven students passing their Junior requirements. 11

In an unpublished article Dr. Swift provided chronological highlights of the growth of the music camp during the Otter Lakes years.

The roster of the 1953 camp lists 131 students in the final yearbook, which was now called the "Hi Note," as it has been ever since. During the first few years it was named "NYSMC Souvenir Notes." It was mimeographed in the lower lounge area of the old hotel, which also served as the ensemble library and bookstore. The mimeograph machine provided programs for all concerts and recitals.

* * *

A second major motivation for the departure from Otter Lake is simply stated in an entry from a contemporary journal from 1955. "All the Camp went to climb Bald Mountain today. The Camp cesspools had to be emptied." 13

By 1955 the Otter Lake facility was operating at full capacity and then some. The septic tanks were designed for the old hotel. Neither then had been filled to capacity! With close to 150 campers plus faculty all living and working on campus, the problem worsened. Short of installing a brand new septic system at considerable expense, there was no apparent solution.

Growing Pains
A view of Otter Lake and the Camp main building at a Sunday afternoon concert

And third, an invitation was extended by Dr. Miller A. F. Ritchie, President of Hartwick College, to bring and operate the music camp to the Oneonta campus. College credit for selected courses could be more easily developed and coordinated. The more urban setting would also provide greater potential for increased enrollments. The facilities were less rustic. (Not everyone considered that an advantage.) Dr. Swift and the Board of Directors had no choice but to accept the invitation.

The Final Concert on Friday, August 25, 1955, ended not only the ninth season but also the summer program in the Adirondacks. That realization deeply affected many campers, faculty, and staff on that cold August evening. The Concert Choir's final selection was the Livingston Gearhart arrangement of "God of Our Fathers." At the end the audience stood and joined with the choir to sing,

"Thy love divine hath led us in the past.
In this free land by thee our lot is cast.
Be thou our ruler, guardian, guide and stay,
Thy word our law, thy paths our chosen way." 14

With the hundreds of voices, three trumpets, four-hand piano accompaniment, organ, and percussion, it was far more than just a musical selection in a primitive concert hall in a tiny village in the Adirondacks.

The hotel burned to the ground in 1959. Where it stood for 65 years a vacant, windswept lot surrounded by tall pine trees greeted the writer and his wife on a brief return visit in August 1993.

The quietness again was tangible. But in the distance - beyond the quiet or perhaps nestled in it - there were sounds. There were echoes - of many footsteps racing up or down wooden steps to meals or rehearsals or meetings; of the laughter of young people in a lakeside volleyball game as the ball was spiked into the water; of the notes of reveille on a bright and sunny morning; of the arhythmic clanging of a dinner bell in the hand of one of the kitchen staff of the wail of a whistle of a steam locomotive announcing its arrival and departure; and especially of the sounds of music - vocal and instrumental, solos and ensembles.

Music from the mountains!

The music camp momentum was well established. The change of venue would lead to other changes in the years (and pages) ahead. Otter Lake provided the starting place, and as such it always held a special fondness for the Camp Founder and Director, and for all the people who were a part of the Camp in those first years.

Echoes
The author in June 1996 at the Music Camp site at Otter Lake.