Sing out loud, strong and silly

Suzie Harrison

It was the last day of summer school and Beth Sand wasted no time

getting the class going. She grabbed her guitar, headed to the front

of the class and encouraged everyone to participate.

“We’re going to sing some fun stuff,” Sand said. “I’m going to

teach you how to be dorky. How many of you are going to camp?”

The music class was part of the summer school program held at

Thurston Middle School.

Sand proudly said she knows all the camp songs and the secret to

singing them well. She said fifth- and sixth-graders have to lose the

“too-cool” attitude along with any inhibitions because camp songs are

about having fun and being silly.

“For song competitions at camp, you make up a song -- usually

making fun of the camp, the people or something about the camp,” Sand

said.

Another important secret about camp songs is to sing ‘em loud. She

said it’s easier to hit the right note if you can hear yourself

singing it.

“It’s the last day of summer school,” she said. “You can sing a

little louder -- you can sing a little wild.”

They warmed up with “Someday” by Sugar Ray, after the teacher told

them the band originated in Orange County. Throughout the song they

practiced pitch, reaching a high during “Just close your eyes and

I’ll take you there. This place is warm and without a care. We’ll

take a swim in the deep blue sea -- go to leave and you reach for

me.”

“Listen to this rhythm,” Sand said. “We’re going to do a song with

the same rhythm in just a second. With this rhythm you can go right

into any surf song, Bossa Nova, Latin and jazz -- and here with the

Caribbean melody of ‘Kokomo.’”

The students relentlessly begged Sand to sing “Hello Mudduh, Hello

Fadduh.”

“I’m warning you that if you sing this, it will get stuck in your

head and you can’t stop,” Sand said.

She gave in after admitting it was the king of all camp songs.

“I just like the songs we sing because they’re really funny and

make a lot of people laugh,” 11-year-old Samantha Thomas, said. “Mrs.

Sand is really nice, she’s funny and she always picks a lot of great

songs to sing.”

Samantha said she learned a lot about the Beach Boys’ songs and

surfing safaris, and what beaches the band would go to.

“And I learned how lucky we are to live in California,” Samantha

added.

Tylan King, 11, said he loves that they sang songs from different

countries.

“I just love singing,” Tylan said. “I really like Mrs. Sand. She

has been my music teacher since first grade.”