Bean Blossom Youth Bluegrass Boot Camp

Thanks to our Youth Boot Camp sponsors:
C.F. Martin & Company
Central Indiana Bluegrass Music Association
The Family of Eric Shoup
Bean Blossom Jamboree Foundation
Claudia Langley

Welcome to our 9th Annual Youth Bluegrass Boot Camp at Bill Monroe’s Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival, “the oldest, continuous running bluegrass festival in the world!” Last year’s Boot Camp was a great success! We had a lot of great kids and are looking forward to another great camp this year!

This Year’s Camp- Sun.-Tues. June 15-17, 2014

The Youth Bluegrass Boot Camp has fast become the newest tradition at Bean Blossom and one we hope to continue for many years to come. If you have a strong desire to learn not only how to play the music but also such things as the history of the music, vocals and harmonies, how to take care of your instruments, how to work a microphone and stage presence, jamming etiquette, and much more, then this is the camp for you. We are seeking students 6-18 years of age who are interested in learning a great American tradition- playing bluegrass music.

What Students Can Expect:

Camp is organized into small groups based on the ability of the players. We have brand new/beginner groups, intermediate groups, and advanced groups for guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and bass. The camp will begin on Sunday, June 15, 2014 and run through Tuesday, June 17, 2014. All students will perform on the historic Main Stage on Tuesday. Each group of students learns their own songs to perform as a band and the entire group learns up to two songs to play all together. If we have enough advanced students this year, they will break apart into smaller groups after they learn their advanced songs to practice a song or two to play as a band. This will all depend on how many advanced pickers we have, so we hope the advanced kids will come out in forces this year! Our instructors are known to be good at their trade as well as good with children of all ages. We have instructors from Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee and Kentucky. Our instructors care about the kids and work extended time playing and practicing with the youth in the camp. You can locate a tentative camp schedule on line at www.beanblossom.us All students will also get a guided tour of the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Museum and learn about Mr. Monroe’s contributions to bluegrass music as well as a lot of history of the music. There will be vocal sessions for students interested in singing various parts in our final performance, a session on instrument care, and much, much more.