Sierra Mountain Music Camp

All our donations go to camper scholarships, help us never turn a child away from music camp due to financial need. Our camp strives to remove kids from a technology filled, busy, and overscheduled world and get them back to the basics. Music. Life. Friendship. (and the great outdoors!)

 

History:

Sixty years ago, Gus Noland played trombone and sang in the high school glee club. Peggy Daly (Noland) played the bass viol in her High School Orchestra.  As parents they embraced & encouraged music in their home & had their own family band, with all 5 children participating. 

 After they retired - Gus and Peggy made a commitment to organize a summertime choral camp. From the beginning Gus's dream had been to inspire young men and women to sing. With orchestras and choirs often disappearing from the public schools, the inclusion of music in children's education was becoming more rare, and the need for supplemental music program offerings was becoming greater.

In our 3rd summer the addition of a fourth choir, one for junior boys with treble or "unchanged" voices increased interest in camp.  Camp activities expanded to accommodate the varied interests of the campers.  In 2000, Sierra Mountain Choral camp became Sierra Mountain Music camp with the addition of an orchestra for all ages. After one year, we added a second orchestra for advanced students. 

The year 2003 a contract with Mondavi for the 2004 10th anniversary concert came in fall 2003. Our 10th anniversary concert in June 2004 at the Robert and Margrett Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts was spectacular and the pinnacle of our camp's history. Gus was very, very proud of what had been accomplished and all our talented campers.

Sadly, 2005 was also a time to say goodbye. Camp founder Augustus "Gus" Noland passed away in March and left a great hole in the hearts of family, staff and alumni. . 

Diamond Arrow Christian Conference Center near Nevada City became our new facilitiy in 2006, with 350+ acres, offered new resources to explore, including a climbing wall, a zip-fly line, swimming pool and beautiful hiking trails near the Yuba River.

In 2006 Sierra Mountain Music Camp saw a decline in campers due to the economy and struggles in our community. The growing need to broaden our scholarship program offering financial support community became a HUGE mission for Sierra Mountain Music Camp. With over 50% of our camp being on financial assitance of some kind we struggle to keep up with the growing needs. As music programs are diminished in school programs our mission of music, life, and friendship for any child who wants to attend rings truer now more than ever. We never want to turn away a child who wants to attend camp! We need yur help!