Jenny Whiteley announces this year’s Old School Bluegrass Camp details
We are thrilled to announce the fifth year of our Old School Bluegrass Camp! We have a fabulous line-up of instructors this year, from Joey Wright and Kristine Schmitt to the whole Barrel Boys band.
Most of these talented musicians are teaching workshops across Canada this summer, and Old School Bluegrass Camp students can study with them right here in Ontario!
The camp will take place from Sunday, June 30 through Friday, July 5.
This camp is a different kind of workshop, focusing on bluegrass instruments and bluegrass music. We will be limiting enrollment to 50 campers, giving each camper an unprecedented level of teaching, coaching, mentoring and one-on-one instruction.
Learning how to perform with others in a band setting is a fundamental goal of The Old School Bluegrass Camp (OSBC). The idea is to create several bluegrass groups that will play together, jam, practice, gel as a group and ultimately perform on our stage as a band on the last day of camp!
There will be plenty of time to work on your instrument of choice, too, with daily master classes and a one private lesson during the camp all included in the schedule. You should bring at least the skill level of a “strong beginner” to the camp, but these teachers are all excellent and will work at your level, something they can do because of the intimate class sizes (a maximum of 10 students per instrument). The principle instruments offered are bluegrass banjo, clawhammer banjo, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, stand-up bass, and vocals (new this year).
There is plenty going on for fun here as well! Nightly socials, dances and bonfires will all serve to make this the week of a lifetime.
We like to keep it simple at OSBC. Your camp fee of $900 + HST includes on-site camping accommodations, amenities, three delicious home-cooked meals per day plus snacks, and all instructions and activities during your stay.
The setting of the OSBC is unique as well! It’s located in beautiful Milford, Prince Edward County, Ontario. Prince Edward County is Canada’s newest and premiere wine growing region with over 30 wineries. It is also home to some of the best beaches in Ontario, including Sandbanks Provincial Park.
The Old School Bluegrass Camp is run in a reinvented elementary school, South Marysburgh Central Public School, which was built in 1959. It was decommissioned in 2011 due to low enrollment. Jesse Parker and Alysa Hawkins bought the school in 2013 with their three children. It has been beautifully renovated into a home, an event space, and a bed and breakfast. You will camp on the baseball field, dine in the converted gymnasium, learn and perform on the gym stage, and receive instruction in the principle’s office, library and staff room. And the central bonfire is on the basketball court!
All of these factors will combine to create lifelong memories, new friendships and, most of all,a a bluegrass music experience like no other.
