Mountain Song Productions & Brevard Music Center present two incredible camps devoted to bluegrass music. Join us for the inaugural Blue Ridge Guitar Camp, hosted by Bryan Sutton, and the third-annual Blue Ridge Banjo Camp, hosted by Béla Fleck. Both workshops are held on the campus of the Brevard Music Center in Brevard, North Carolina.
BLUE RIDGE GUITAR CAMP, HOSTED BY BRYAN SUTTON
JUNE 1-5, 2022
Instruction at Blue Ridge Guitar Camp will focus on intermediate to advanced bluegrass guitarists, or those players of intermediate to advanced general experience who strive to learn about the bluegrass guitar style.
Our definition of bluegrass guitar includes a rhythm and lead focus. Players who’ve spent more time playing rhythm than lead should apply, players who’ve spent more time playing lead than rhythm should apply, folks that play and sing should apply.
My hope is that primarily rhythm players expand their sense of what’s possible with runs, chord voicings, cross-picking, and general song support. I also really want primary lead players to learn more about being stronger rhythm players and song supporters as they are challenged with next level flat-picking concepts.
The audition process is in place mainly to ensure the class groups are fairly and evenly populated. We want participants to feel their group represents where they are in their playing.
Along with the classes, there will be evening and morning full group sessions that will involve everything from basic information, deep discussions, and detailed listening sessions. There will be other guitar-related opportunities such as learning about bracing from Dana Bourgeois, opportunities to play some cool vintage guitars, jam sessions with top local pickers, guitar setup with luthier/repair person on site, and more!
BLUE RIDGE BANJO CAMP VOL. 3, HOSTED BY BÉLA FLECK
AUG 17-21 2022
Béla Fleck presents the Blue Ridge Banjo Camp to be held at the Brevard Music Center in Brevard, NC on August 17-21, 2022. The camp will feature 3 days and 4 four nights of diverse banjo instruction by Béla himself alongside a cast of world class banjo players/instructors. The week will culminate with a finale concert held in the beautiful Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium.
The instructional focus will be on the three distinct styles of three-finger banjo playing: Scruggs, melodic, and single string. The Blue Ridge Banjo Camp will provide banjo players with the tools to improve their playing and aims to contribute to the overall growth of the fine art of the 5-String banjo.
We are looking for pickers in the intermediate to advance level. What exact level of player that ends up at the camp depends on the pool of applicants that we have to choose from. Since there is no application fee there isn't much of a risk in applying whether someone thinks they are at the "right" level or not. We are looking for engaged learners who are eager to listen and learn from some of the best, we want students who are just excited about the banjo as we are and that are banjo nerds to the core! While the camp will be working on skill-building, we are putting together programming that will build up banjo players with a holistic approach, an approach that will hopefully have a long-lasting effect on each players' ability to improve even after the camp is over.