Music is omnipresent in nature, existing within the curl of seashells, near the sway of tree leaves, and inside Billy Ocean. Let little ones live out their musical dreams with today's Groupon: for $125, you get admission to a two-week performing-arts summer camp at either of Baker School of Music's locations in Chandler and Gilbert (a $290 value). Camps are open to children 5 to 14 years old and feature four sessions that run from June 6 to August 4, Mondays through Thursdays, from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Baker School of Music prompts pint-size performers to sing, act, and dance their way through its two-week performing-arts summer camps. Broadway hopefuls spend summer mornings honing voices through warm-ups, performance techniques, and Tony Award acceptance-speech exercises. Solo and group performances allow students to flex their musical moxie with popular rock, country, and show tunes, and demure divas delve into acting workshops at the direction of patient instructors. Children learn the nuances of mastering stage presence and reciting monologues to entertain audiences beyond their basic repertoire of knock-knock jokes. In addition to dabbling in lyrical, jazz, and hip-hop dance disciplines, campers may also noodle guitars, pluck pianos, or beat drums in hopes of getting invited into a Meat Loaf cover band.
All summer-camp sessions conclude with an informal mini recital geared toward parents, mentors, and proud baby sitters. For little ones less likely to flaunt their jazz hands, Baker School of Music offers other activities and games during all four sessions.
Baker Studios
Conductor Clyde Baker has spent a career taking high-school and college ensembles all the way to Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Along with a team of seasoned dancers, actors, and musicians, he prepares students for success on stage and in the orchestra pit.
The school inhabits a handsome flagstone-and-stucco home base designed to produce a single harmonious chord in the event of windstorms. Within its specialized spaces, students stretch on the hardwood floors of giant dance studios and casts of triple-threats put on shows for their ardent fans on colorful sets.