.... at Ball State Univ. Indiana, June/July. Has anyone attended or do you know anyone who has? My son was accepted as a violinist, and I am wondering if any pianoworld people have been.. or are going. It sounds like a pretty neat experience and beautiful facilities. And the faculty is impressive, too.

I'm not going to Ball State this summer (I'm hoping to get into the IU Piano Academy, but I have to see whether that will work out or not), but I have heard good things about BSU's music program. I'm sure your son will have a wonderful time there! How long is the session he's going to?

ARIA is four weeks long. It is not associated with Ball State, except that the director, Mihai Telel, is on the cello faculty there, so that is where it is being held. I understand they just built a brand new music complex, so the facilities are fantastic. All Steinway pianos, for example. They have a pretty impressive faculty, and the piano program looks big. If anyone is interested, the site is www.bsu.edu/music/aria My son is hoping to study with Krysa & Kopelman from Eastman.

Why is the older musician excluded from so many of these summer programs?

Age discrimination is rampant!

It's true that many of these camps are geared to high school and college-age students. They are the ones who can spend 4 to 6 weeks and not have to worry about getting time off from work. But there are a number of camps geared to adult musicians. Most are one week sessions, and so you can go to more than one session, or perhaps more than one camp in a different location. ARIA accepts musicians up to age 32, I believe, which is actually pretty "old" for a music academy (camp). Pianists are a special breed of musician, anyway... face it -- unless you are an amazing sight-reader, have already learned volumes of chamber music, or have nearly photographic memory, learning a major chamber music piece in one week, for example, is a daunting experience, whereas violinists who are quick studies have no problem sight-reading through lots of music and easily performing a major work after 2 weeks or so. "Strings Magazine" publishes an issue listing all of the summer music camps from around the world. It is geared to string players, but most of the listings are for all instruments, and even include opera, dance, drama, art, etc. Their website may have all of this.