• 2016 California Coast Music Camp

    2016 California Coast Music Camp
    Palo Alto, Calif. — This July, California Coast Music Camp (CCMC) will offer two week-long acoustic camps, July 10-16 and July 17-23, 2015.

    The camp is located on a wooded ridge at 4,000 feet, in the historic Sierra Nevada Gold Country in Placer County, northeast of Sacramento.

    CCMC offers more than 30 classes in mandolin, guitar, bass, banjo, voice, ukulele, fiddle, harmony singing, theory, songwriting, and stagecraft. CCMC focuses more on teaching practical, usable skills which you can incorporate into your playing or singing.

    Styles include bluegrass, swing, blues, old time, country, folk, jazz, rock, and more. The camp features extra workshops, band labs, jams, concerts, dances, and performance opportunities.

    Swimming and hiking are non-musical options at CCMC and some campers bring bikes to explore old roads and mining towns in the area. The camp has fairly flat terrain, with improved roads and trails throughout, and it overlooks one of the main canyons of the American River. Camp includes all meals and activities; for lodging, you can bring a tent or RV or stay in shared cabins.

    But most of all, you get lots of music and music instruction from mandolin teachers like these:

    Week 1 Mandolin Instructor: Tim Connell

    A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and a virtuoso mandolinist with over twenty years professional performing experience, Tim Connell has created a sophisticated and original global style on the mandolin. Widely regarded as one of the top North American interpreters of the Brazilian choro style on the mandolin, Tim has also developed his own unique voice for the instrument, described in a Mandolin Magazine cover story as "fiery and energetic, soulful and evocative."

    Week 2 Mandolin Instructor: Paul Kotapish

    Paul Kotapish is known for his inventive rhythmic accompaniment and incisive melody playing on mandolin and guitar with Wake the Dead, Euphonia, Hillbillies from Mars, and with noted fiddlers such as Kevin Burke and Rodney Miller. Paul’s background is in dance music, and his playing is rooted in the rural fiddle traditions of Appalachia, Ireland and beyond, but it also embraces pop idioms like rock and country. For four decades Paul has performed on concert stages and in dance halls throughout the United States and Canada, from remote fishing villages in Alaska to Lincoln Center in New York City. Foreign travel has included concert and dance tours in Europe, Great Britain, Latin America and the former Soviet Union—Russia, Georgia and Ukraine. He has performed numerous times on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion and Sedge Thompson’s West Coast Live radio programs. Paul has recorded a dozen albums with his various bands, and has appeared as a guest on dozens more.

    Details on the classes for mandolin and other instruments, plus information about the camp itself are available on the camp web site linked below. Students may register for one or both weeks at the site. Scholarships are available.

    Student Concert

    Mike Compton’s Mandolin Class Performing for the Student Concert, 2011. Photo credit: Stephen Westfold.

    Whether you're a shy beginner or a seasoned professional, CCMC's classes and activities will challenge and inspire you. The supportive atmosphere will encourage you to stretch musically, regardless of your level or experience. And CCMC is fun — and has been since 1992!

    Additional information