Praise Him With Stringed Instruments is a day camp in the Perth area in Western Australia. String players of all ages and levels of playing are invited to come to this wonderful week of making music together to God's glory. The camp will feature technique workshops, small group ensembles, master classes, and mass orchestra (all levels). At the end of the week, we will have two concerts to share our music with the church community.  
The aim of our Reformed String Camp is to provide an opportunity for string players to develop their musical skills in a supportive setting along with other reformed string players. A variety of music will be learned at the camp, with a particular focus on playing arrangements of the Genevan tunes. The event will be held in Kelmscott and is open to all ages and skill levels.
Our camp focuses on stringed instruments: violin, viola, cello, double bass. If the situation allows we may occasionally invite other instrumentalists to play along.
String Camp is for those who faithfully practise their instruments but also for those who used to play an instrument in the past but haven't kept it up and want to give it another try, or those who play their instrument only if they have a good reason to. 

We are Reformed, because we welcome string players from the Free Reformed Churches of Australia, or from sister churches. Members of other Reformed churches can join by invitation only. 
As Reformed churches we stand in a tradition in which music plays an important role. In the time of the Great Reformation the 
reformer Martin Luther emphasised the importance of music:

“We can mention only one point (which experience confirms), namely, that next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise.  She is mistress and governess of those human emotions….which as masters govern men or more often overwhelm them….For whether you wish to comfort the sad, to terrify the happy, to encourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm the passionate, or to appease those full of hate….what more effective means than music could you find?”

And Luther explained that the ancient prophets and fathers combined music and God’s Word. Thus, humans combine the gifts of language and song to praise God.

“But when [musical] learning is added to all this and artistic music which corrects, develops, and refines the natural music, then at last it is possible to taste with wonder (yet not to comprehend) God’s absolute and perfect wisdom in his wondrous work of music.”

In the Reformed tradition the churches have often made use of the Genevan tunes for the singing of the congregation during the church services. Calvin worked hard to combine the psalms with tunes which could easily be sung by the congregation. Especially during his time in Geneva. That is why they are called the 'Genevan tunes'.
Although we do not only play Genevan tunes during String Camp, they have an important place.  

These words come from Psalm 150 (these exact words can be found in the New King James Version. Other translations have a bit different wording). 
God's people is called to praise God with all kinds of instruments, and also with their own breath/voice.
These words are also the title of a series of three CDs that Kent Dykstra together with a number of other string players produced over the past years. Many of the players who participated, also took part in one of  the String Camps which Kent organised with his siter Roxi in Canada.
Since it is our intention at String Camp to praise God in all that we do, we thought that this name was fitting to summarise the goal of String Camp, and we hope that all those who participate in String Camp, have the same goal. It is not about our own honour, it is all to the glory of God. From time to time, in an orchestra, some players should step back a bit in order to make it possible for other instruments to be heard, and it all forming a harmonious sound. String Camp is not only about learning and making music, but also about learning humility and listening to others, and working together to produce the best result, for the glory of God and the enjoyment of all.