Summer Camp 2024

Storytelling in Music

Through Symphonic Pieces, Opera, Ballet and Fairy Tales

July 22 – 26, 2024
9:00 – 3:30 PM (Extended Hours as Needed)
Deadline to Register: Saturday, June 1

Age Groups
Group 1: 7 – 10 yrs.
Group 2: 11 – 18 yrs.

Cost: $525
A $100 deposit is due upon completion of registration to secure your spot(s); full payment is due by Saturday, June 8

Click the button below to register via Google Forms:

Join us for a fun week of summer camp this July! Students who participate in summer camp often make friends with other children musicians. They motivate each other to practice with more accountability, and learn to perfect their pieces to show off how good they are to their peers. The summer camps also have an extraordinary teacher-student ratio!

For 2024, the theme of our summer music camp is Storytelling in Music through Symphonic Pieces, Opera, Ballet and Fairy Tales. Music has an incredible ability to evoke images and bring characters and narratives to life with sound. Our students will experience the magic of storytelling through music as we spend a week exploring compositions based on some of our favorite stories, including Peter and the Wolf, the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the Nutcracker, Porgy and Bess, Romeo and Juliet and much more! You will be inspired by iconic works of ballet, opera and symphony by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Poulenc and many others, and you will even learn how to compose your own musical story!

Our daily schedule will include deep-diving lessons in music history, one-on-one lessons with our wonderful faculty members, supervised practicing for both solo pieces and chamber groups, and outdoor activities like Capture the Flag. Pack a lunch to enjoy while we watch movies in the afternoons and beat the heat with ice cream for dessert! On Friday, July 26, the final day of the camp, we will host a concert for families and friends to attend and hear what our students have worked on at camp.

The Nelly Berman School Music Camp is one of the best kept secrets in Philadelphia!

A poster for the storytelling in music event.

Videos from Summer Camp 2024

Dr. Ariane Alexander Teaching Music History

Dr. Jean-Francois Teaching French Music & Composition

Victoria Kavalerov Teaching Russian Fairy Tales

Dr. Ariane Alexander Teaching Music History

French Music and Composition with Dr. Jean-Francois

Storytelling through music and composition

Bach B minor suite Quintet Performance

Photos from Summer Camp 2024

A girl sitting at the table with some paper

A group of children wearing masks in a room.

Two young girls pose for a picture in their room.

A group of people sitting around a table.

Three children sit at a table with papers.

A woman playing the violin in front of a laptop.

A girl playing the violin in front of other people.

A boy and girl playing the cello in front of other people.

A girl sitting at the table with a cup of coffee.

Two girls sitting on a chair and one girl is kneeling down

A girl wearing an apron and paper crown.

A boy in costume holding a broom on the floor.

A group of children sitting around a table.

A young child wearing a paper crown and holding up one hand.

A girl sitting at the table with her paper craft.

A young boy standing next to an upright piano.

A group of young people playing musical instruments.

A boy holding a stuffed penguin in front of a house.

Videos from Past Summer Camps

Dr. Ariane Alexander Teaching Music History in Summer Camp 2022

Dr. Jean-Francois Teaching Composition Through Sibelius Software in Summer Camp 2022

Student Rehearsals Playlist

Friday End of Week Quiz Playlist

Master Classes Playlist

A group of children sitting in front of a window.

A group of children standing in front of each other.

A group of people sitting around a piano.

A group of people sitting on the grass in a park.

Two girls holding a bouquet of flowers in front of a piano.

Two men sitting at a table with laptops.

A group of people sitting at a table with laptops.

A group of children playing musical instruments in a room.

Two people sitting at a table with papers on the table

A group of people wearing masks sitting in a room.

A girl playing violin in front of two other girls.

A woman playing violin in front of children.

Two young girls sitting on a bench near an old piano.

A man sitting at the piano wearing a mask.

A group of people in a room with instruments.

A man wearing a purple shirt with the words " i played it better at home ".

A group of children posing for a picture.

Three people sitting on a bench wearing masks.

A woman looking at some black and silver instruments

A boy sitting on top of a couch with a laptop.

A boy and girl playing piano in front of a window.

A young man sitting at a table with a laptop.

Three people wearing masks looking at a piece of paper.

A dog walking down the street near flowers.

A purple plant with white flowers in the foreground.

A garden with many different plants and flowers.

A house with a car parked in front of it.

A girl holding her clarinet in front of the wall.

A group of people with hair curlers on their heads.

A boy sitting in a chair with his laptop.

A fence with yellow posts in front of flowers.

A garden with pink flowers and purple plants.

A house with many flowers in front of it

Summer Lessons

Summer lessons work a little differently than during the school year. Lessons are scheduled on a weekly basis around your vacations. If your teachers are unavailable, we will provide a substitute, which is also a wonderful opportunity for your child to get feedback from a new perspective, learn new repertoire, work on scales, technique, and theory. A $200 deposit is due by July 6th, and then an invoice for any remaining balance will be sent to you later in July.

“Take 5” – Five lessons to explore a new style or approach to music, including:

Try a new instrument of your choice this summer!
“Broadway Tunes” – voice lessons focused on music theater, taught by Dr. Nathaniel McEwen and Marina Voznaya
“Intro to Jazz” – jazz scales & chords on the piano, with Ethan Lee
“Music Theory & Music History” – group Zoom lessons taught by Dr. Ariane Alxander
Technique intensives for violin, cello & clarinet
Intensive supervised study with multiple in-person lessons a week
10-Week Music History and Theory Course with Dr. Ariane Alexander

Click here to read about more our past summer camps!