American Mix

Little 5 Points Music Center June 7-18

Decatur Music Center June 21-July 2

A two week long camp for Upper Elementary and Junior high school aged students devoted to making and recording American music.  Jazz, Rock, Roots: pick your poison.

Students play instruments with others who have similar skills, sing with the House Band, and hear live performers. Campers help design, record, and package an album of cool songs by the end of camp.  Small group and private lessons with faculty included in the camp.

Afternoons include a needed break for recreational activities in nearby parks, followed by a closing afternoon activity.

This camp is for designed for students with some previous experience.  Beginners are encouraged to enroll in one of the Downbeat Camps.

Campers are encouraged, but not required, to enroll in the Moving Image, where they’ll be able to harness their musical talents and recordings in the production of music videos.

Downbeat: Band Camp

Decatur Music Center June 14-18

A downbeat style camp, but just for band students.

Band Camp offers an ideal introduction for elementary school-aged students who are either starting or who have experience playing a wind or brass instrument.  Beginners will learn the fundamentals and more advanced players will pick up pointers about playing their instrument by studying with faculty professionals.  Also included:  general instruction in basic notation and introductory theory.  Guest performers engage students through performance and interactive sessions on  a variety of topics, including repertoire, practice techniques, instrument care,and using tools like metronomes and tuners.

For more advanced students, there will be an opportunity to work in small ensembles to learn appropriate arrangements of chamber music repertoire.

Interested students are encouraged to continue summer studies by enrolling in a Downbeat Camp, where they will be able to contnue their studies and interact with peers studying other instruments.

Downbeat

Wizard's Music Academy  Little 5 Points Music Center June 7-18

Vive la France! Decatur Music Center June 21-July 2

American Composers Retrospective Little 5 Points Music Center July 19-July 30 or Decatur Music Center August 2-6

We’d call it conservatory for kids, but that might leave you with the idea it won’t be fun or that Jazz, Rock, and Roots are off limits.

Too many kids take private lessons and never get to play with other musicians.Beginners and intermediate students are invited to join us for a week of intensive lessons, classes, and ensemble playing with Center faculty and fellow students. It’s a month or more of instruction packed into a week or two, the perfect way to get started or make some real progress on an instrument or with voice lessons and to enjoy the benefits of making music with friends.

During the mornings and late afternoons, each camper meets daily, one-on-one or in small groups with a primary studio instructor for a 30- to 45-minute lesson on an instrument or for vocal coaching. Students also study the basics of notation, theory, and composition through creatively designed, hands on classes and activities. Students also have the option to sing, drum, and to try a secondary instrument, if interested. Faculty and guest performers will also entertain and dazzle campers.

Afternoons will be spent doing summertime favorites, like playing kickball or frisbee with Center faculty and counselors in the park, heading to the ice cream shop, visiting nearby galleries and recording studios, or just drawing in the local scene-- beautiful Inman Park, funky Little Five Points, or family friendly Decatur.  All students have the option of joining in the Salon style concert on the last Friday of each session.

Each session of Downbeat is developed around a central theme.  Coming summer 2010: a return of Natia's popular Wizard's Music Academy.  Learn rhythm chants, how to use magic conducting wands, play musical themes from popular movies.  New: Vive la France! Study music through the lens of folk and art songs from France, learn solfege patterns, encounter rich sounds and sights developed by French composers and artists, pick up a phrase or two of French, and enjoy some home-made crepes.  American Composers Retrospective Copland, Gershwin, Ives, Bernstein, Monk meet Warhol, O'Keeffe, Pollock, and more.     

Already studying with someone other than center Faculty? Not a problem, we’ll assess your level and place you accordingly.

Not sure which instrument you’d like to try?  We’ll give the chance to try out a few during the first few days and spend the week helping you focus on something you take a liking to.

The Moving Image

Little 5 Points Music Center June 21-July 2

Decatur Music Center July 5-16

The line between music and image is a blurry one. This two-week long day camp is devoted to the art of the music video. Campers work directly with Center faculty and Dan Greene, the Director of the Center’s Moving Image Project, to make music videos. Students participate in every aspect of the creative process. Under careful supervision and with much encouragement, students choose and practice music, design their scripts, learn to work within a budget, perform, shoot, record, edit, and then screen their videos. All campers and their families are invited to the release and screening party at the Center at the end of the two weeks.

Downbeat : Piano (Two Heads/Four Hands)

Little 5 Points Music Center August 2-6

The piano department is hosting a camp for experienced upper elementary-aged students and older to focus on 4-hand piano arrangements.  A staple of any solid piano studio, 4-hand repertoire offers the piano students a chance to play some fun repertoire and to tackle the challenges inherent in any collaborative performance.  Too many young pianists spend all their time playing solo repertoire.

Students will be placed with a partner or partners according to their skills and interests.  Campers spend the week learning repertoire and in a variety of classes and clinics devoted to piano playing.  Tips on technique, using the metronome, accompanying singers, playing chamber music.

SonicEarth

Little 5 Points Music Center June 1-4

Decatur Music Center June 7-11

Campers explore the sound of our environs, build instruments out of natural materials (some of them harvested locally), and experience music from around the world and from different eras with faculty and guest artists.

Students will also:  play African and Afro-Cuban hand drums in an ensemble, listen to and sing with live Jazz & Latin combos, interview and take a group lesson with an accomplished classical pianist, sing tunes from around the world with our house band and dj, pick up a couple of chord changes on the guitar, collaborate with other students and faculty to write an original song based on the pentatonic scale, take SoundWalks to map and record sounds.

A week of fun-filled music and music-related activities designed to entertain, inspire, and to teach a bit about the basic physics of sound and the origins of music.  Lower and Upper Elementary Tracks available.

SoPo: Just Off Broadway

Little 5 Points Music Center July 5-16

Decatur Music Center July 19-30

We’re SoPo, South of Ponce.  And we know a Broadway tune or two—in fact, some of us have performed on (or just off) Broadway or in London’s West End. Under the guidance of the Center's Director of Vocal Studies, Virginia Stapleton, campers will spend several weeks singing, dancing, acting, writing, editing, directing, making costumes, and creating sets.  Two weeks preparing for an informal show of scenes from favorite musicals at the Music Center.

Two themes for the summer 2010.  Plants and Animals: favorite songs and scenes from recent musical that are performed by or focused on plants and/or animals.  Family and Friends : favorite songs and scenes from recent musicals that explore our relationships one with another.

Lower and Upper Elementary tracks available.