Glee Club

I have just returned to my house from the camp gym, across the road. Much like almost every summer night at Alpine since 1959, Glee Club practice has just completed. After supper all of camp makes our way to the gym. We sit on the floor of the gym as cabins. 2 or 3 musically inclined counselors stand up front with guitars in hand. Most summers, this one included, a counselor plays the cajon to give us the beat. If you aren’t familiar it’s a box shaped percussion instrument, orginating from South America, I believe. Some summers we even have a fiddle or banjo player. And believe it or not, the words we sing are projected onto a screen using an old, single bulb, overhead projector. The kind my math teachers used in the 80’s and 90’s before Apple TV and flat screens!

If it sounds like something out of the 1950’s, it really is. I’m pretty sure my father in law brought over the tradition from the summer camp he attended in the 1940’s. But here’s the thing, the majority of the campers love it. Look forward to it. And sing out loud at the top of their lungs. The secret, like most things at Alpine, is that the counselors have fun with it and sell it.

There are Glee Club classics that have stood the test of time and are still on the set list many nights. Songs like, “We All Live In Cabin Number 3” (Beatles’ Yellow Submarine anyone?) and “Desoto Girls” to the tune of the Beach Boys California Girls. Some have been written to deeper tracks that were more one hit wonder songs in their era - we sing The Mountain to the tune of a Jackopearce song from the 90’s called The Vineyard. There are a few modern classics, written in the last few summers. Naturally we needed a Taylor Swift song so we rewrote Love Story about you guessed it, the Alpine Desoto dance. John Denver’s classic Country Roads got new treatment in a recent summer, Lookout Mountain style.

And there are a few old folks standards that need not be rewritten: Will the Circle Be Unbroken and Rocky Top usually both lead to the whole gym standing and dancing (and not a little discussion about SEC football in the case of the latter!)

The hook for all of this is the opportunity to perform for Camp Desoto towards the end of the term. The Glee Club counselors will select what they consider the greatest hits from the term and we will sing them for the ladies. As much fun as that night is, I would argue that the real deal is the routine of going to the gym every night after supper, sitting as a cabin, abandoning all “cool factors”, and singing out loud. In the exact same way that boys have here for 60 plus summers. So much has changed in our world since 1959. I love that this hasn’t. In some ways it’s more popular now than it was when I was here in the 80’s and 90’s.

We’ve had a cool, overcast start to this second week today. It has rained off and on all day, but mostly just sprinkled. We played through it and didn’t miss one activity. The only lightning came with a brief front that moved through while we ate our lunch. By the time we finished our meatloaf, mashed potatoes, fried squash, and chocolate pudding the storm was long gone. For supper tonight we enjoyed chicken tetrazzini, served with a green salad and buttered Texas toast.

Our Chief 2’s departed this morning right after breakfast for their 3 day backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail. They were in great spirits as the loaded the bus with large packs holding all they would need for the next few days. The chartered bus would drive them to the trail head and drop them off mid afternoon. Their guides from Higher Ground has spent Sunday afternoon briefing the boys on safety and helping them pack appropriately. I have been fortunate to make this trip twice, once as a camper and once as a counselor. These are memories I will never forget. We hope the same for these guys.

Thanks for reading and good night for now, Glenn