National Music Camp

The Words About Music team commence proofing of Musica Fever 2010 at 2:30am

Sleep is a wonderful thing. Why else would we have so much of it, every day? Unfortunately, for Words About Music (WAM) participants, sleep is of secondary importance when set alongside 'the deadline'.

Yes, the deadline – that nemesis of sleep. That moment of truth that looms large in the minds of every aspiring writer. And Thursday night, the WAMmers had to contend with the mother of all deadlines: Musica Fever.

Forged in the crucible of the first ever National Music Camp, Musica Fever has become an annual tradition. Times were different then, back in 1948. You could buy a cup of coffee and a local newspaper, and still get change back from a shilling. You also had three weeks of Music Camp in which to formulate your ideas.

So for this year’s WAMmers, we were working not only with a drastically reduced schedule (a mere two weeks as opposed to the original three), we were also writing against history – a particularly appropriate cliché, given that the theme of this year’s magazine was ‘respecting the past’.

And respect it we did, devoting almost the entirety of the magazine’s 28 pages to musings and reminiscences of the Camp’s 62-year history. This year's Fever featured profiles of Music Camp alumni who were here as tutors, an article on Canberra luminary Ernest Llewellyn (whose name adorned the Camp’s principal concert venue) as well as musical games and a (rather Spartan) crossword.

Proofing at 3am and still standing