20 STORIES FOR 20 YEARS

Belle Zhou

Belle Zhou attends SUNY Fredonia, earning a B.M. in Music Education and Violin Performance. She is also a recipient of a Bethel Woods Rock Camp Ambassador scholarship.  

 

“My first Bethel Woods summer experience when I was around 11 with the P.L.A.Y. music program. Initially I didn't want to go because I thought I wasn't that interested in music, and I was a pretty shy kid. I didn't really want to go out there and try new things at the time, but then my mom convinced me to go. I had a great time and it was one of the best summer camp experiences I've ever had. I really got to know how to play the violin at Bethel Woods, and then I also learned how to play the bass, as well as the ukulele and guitar. 

 

And then at P.L.A.Y. rock camp, which I attended when I was 14 or 15, I learned how to sing. I was already involved in chorus in school, but I had never tried singing or performing in front of a large audience by myself. 

 

So that performance was very nerve-racking, but one of the teaching artists encouraged me to sing by myself on stage during the rock camp. He was a really cool guy, and he had this weird technique on how to sing in front of people. I would be singing “505” by Arctic Monkeys and then he would scream ‘LOUDER!’ on the other side of the room. And somehow, I was like, “This works. This works.” 

To this day, I still think about them whenever I perform. It's really cool and supportive, and it feels like a community that will always be there for you no matter what. That's why I like going back there every summer since then. 

 

When I was going to rock camp for my first year, I met a girl and we didn't click the right way, I guess. I asked her if she wanted to talk about anime or something, and she said no. But then she became one of my closest friends from the camp and we had a band together named Audrey's Island. All three of us met in rock camp, and all three of us are still close friends to this day.

 

I was a part of the Rock Camp Ambassador program, and we rehearsed every month, on a set repertoire, and then we performed for Bethel Woods special events, like Harvest Festival, Backstage at Bethel Woods, and the members’ events. We did a lot of gigs, and then we also got the opportunity to record our own songs and perform them in front of an audience. So that was pretty cool, and I'm really grateful for this scholarship. 

 

 

Now I’m an intern at the P.L.A.Y. All Day kids program which teaches art to kids ages 5 to 9, and it's a really cool experience because I didn't know I wanted to be a music educator until I got to teach some of the kids art and crafts. Even though they're different fields, I'm teaching them something and seeing their faces light up when they accomplish something is a really good and rewarding feeling for me. It inspired me to pursue teaching.  

Part of my intern project was to help them make a song, and it was a really cool moment, just them singing, and me playing the ukulele. We were improvising, and sang, ‘I love the mountains.’ The kids said, ‘Oh, can you teach me how to do that?’ I was like, ‘Yes, of course.’ And it was such a special moment for me. Because I got to teach them something that I love, and now they know how to do it, and they also love it.”