This year’s curriculum will have a content similar to previuos years, and we’ll keep our format of switching classes frequently to give everyone a variety of experiences and keep everyone on their toes! Here’s a rundown of the week:
Morning Sessions 
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Musicianship skills: The day starts with fast-paced warm-ups on interval training, rhythm drills, learning to hear harmonic progressions, and sol fege. And let’s not forget the trivia question of the day!
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Big group rehearsal: Everyone working together in one large group. We’ll work on our ensemble skills and create arrangements for our end-of-week performances.
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Sectionals: That’s where we break up into groups by instrument, age, and skill level to work on tunes. Since we’re all at different levels of development, we will break into smaller groups (we average 5-10 students per teacher) to work on tunes, technique, and theory skills. This will help your teachers make sure that everyone is challenged just the right amount. This way you can learn at your own speed; you still get to play with lots of friends at big group rehearsal and in jam sessions.
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Playing by ear/string theory: Melody instrument players have the opportunity to learn old-time fiddle tunes in a traditional “no sheet music” format, and rhythm instrument players learn the ins and outs of improvising accompaniments based on chord changes. Sometimes we read, sometimes we play by ear. You’ll get great experience and help with both ways of learning tunes!
Afternoon electives
We’re still firming up our selection of electives, but here are examples of what you might have to choose from:
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Various fiddle styles: We’ll be working on a wide variety of styles and genres, depending on the specialties of our faculty fiddlers. Some possibilities include old-time fiddling, blues, jazz, swing, klezmer, classic rock, and more.
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Art class: You can express yourself in a different medium at art class. The visual arts have many of the same elements as music: form, rhythm, color, flow, dynamics. Both deal with a conceptual understanding of something that is non-verbal.
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Guided jams: with a staff member leading the jam. Jamming is a very important element of summer camp. It provides a social context for the tunes we’re learning and reinforces the tunes through repetition. In addition, jamming gives us opportunities for individual music expression within a group setting. Besides, it’s FUN!! You can also arrange your own jams during breaks.
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Try a new instrument: A teacher will help you check out playing another stringed instrument, harmonica, maybe even accordion!
- Yoga or Alexander Technique: Your body is part of your instrument–learn ways to take care of it while you are playing and at other times too.
Gigs
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Friday, July 20: We’ll be the band at the Urbana Country Dancers’ family dance. You can find more information if you click here!
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Saturday, July 21: The traditional end-of-camp performance for our families. Time: 10AM. Place TBA.
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Other gigs still in planning stages. More later!
More about instrumental techniques
Violin, viola, cello, bass:
- We’ll work on both right and left hand techniques.
- Bowing patterns
- Special articulations
- Cool slapping and scraping styles of many sorts
- Slides, special vibrato, and other ornaments
- Drones and double stops
- Accompanying
- Non-standard techniques as they are needed for our music.
Banjo:
- basic “clawhammer” or “frailing” technique
- old-time dance tune repertoire
- playing with fiddlers
- more advanced techniques, including drop-thumbing, 5th string fretting, and melodic style.
Guitar
We will present intensive guitar workshops in a number of different styles, designed around campers’ musical interests.
- Learn accompaniment patterns in various styles
- Fingerpicking patterns
- Flat-picking, bluegrass
- Blues, Jazz, and Swing styles
- Improvisation
Skill level for beginning “Guitar Ground Zero”:
- This is offered for adults only.
- You don’t have to know anything, but should bring your own guitar.
- We’ll get you ready to play at least one tune with a fiddle player by the end of the week!
Skill level for continung Guitar:
- Level 1: advanced beginner (know a few chords, able to keep a steady rhythm)
- Level 2: intermediate-to-advanced (be able to play smoothly with other musicians in some style)
- Level 3: Flatpicking & advanced techniques
Teacher Workshops: Teachers will have opportunities to learn too. Please visit Teachers’ Summer Camp for more information.
