July 28
From: Noam Fields-Meyer
Subject: A Reflection
Date: July 28, 2014 at 7:56:11 AM PDT
To: Kelly Shepard
Dear Shep,
A quick reflection, and some thank-yous.
I've been in camp's "Ramahcapella" for the last several years. As you might know, the
summer leading into junior year is not spent at camp, but rather, campers are
encouraged to partake in the Ramah Israel program called Seminar. That's where I've
been this whole summer: frolicking in the fields of the Holy Land, exploring culture,
meeting people, and learning, learning,
learning. But there was no Ramahcapella.
I took it upon myself to make sure we'd have
some kind of music group up here. And
though it took some pushing, hard work, and
many tough decisions, I formed an A Capella
group on Ramah Israel Seminar.
We were originally at a youth village in the
north of Israel called Hodayot, so I called us
the Hodaynotes.
And, of course, I ran this group. That's why
I'm writing to you, Shep, after almost the entire summer: for some reflections.
The first thing I can say is thank you the world over for all you've taught me. As the
conductor and teacher of this small a cappella group, I always thought to myself,
"WWSD: What Would Shep Do?" And that made out group that much better. For
instance: breath control, tall, open vowels, understanding crescendos, understanding a
deeper meaning of the musical decisions and words, song structure, and singing with the
appropriate emotion were a few concepts I took from you. Everything you've taught me
has been priceless and instrumental to the success of this group.
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