2023 Youth Get Together Camp
The Handmade Music School at The Floyd Country Store is excited to announce the Second Annual Floyd Youth Get Together Camp, a traditional music and dance day camp for kids ages 8-15 at the beautiful EcoVillage in Floyd County, Virginia!
This unique five day camp will take place from 9am – 2pm on Monday, July 3rd, through Friday, July 7th, 2023. It will be a fun-filled week exploring the traditional music and dance of Southwest Virginia. Open to all levels, this program offers exciting and interactive classes in fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, bass, singing, and dance. Instructors include Mac and Hanna Traynham, Andy Buckman, Sophie Moeckel, Ben Nelson, Heather Krantz, and more, as well as many visiting guests to give students a rich and diverse learning experience and exploration of regional music.
There are only a few weeks left to sign up for the Early Bird discount that gives families 20% off camp tuition. Scholarships are also available through the Handmade Music School’s Share the Music Scholarship Program. Families can apply for scholarships and register for the Youth Get Together online at the Handmade Music School’s website. Early Bird discounts continue through May 21st, 2023 and registration is open until the end of June. Sibling discounts are also available. T-shirts, snacks, and Friday Night Jamboree admittance is included in the camp fee of $180-250.00, and instruments are available upon request.
Parent Morgan Grim’s daughter attended the first Youth Get Together last year, and she plans to send the next sibling as well this year as well. “This camp defined not only an intense interest in old time music for my daughter, but gave her the tools, the regional background, and a supportive community of kids and adults to grow her musical confidence. We have been looking forward to camp all year and seeing again the fruit of their participation”, says Morgan. “We enjoyed that the camp planned multiple ways for families to participate by watching the kids perform. Likewise, there were so many follow-up opportunities offered after camp to continue the relationships fostered there and to grow in musical skills.”
Daily programming, enrichment time, and class periods include instrument specific instruction, Appalachian dance opportunities, singing, rhythm practice, immersive music and dance history, visiting musicians, peer to peer jamming and instruction, crafts, and outdoor play on the beautiful grounds of the Floyd EcoVillage.
The week concludes with performances at Floyd’s Small Town Summer and The Floyd Country Store’s Friday Night Jamboree, connecting kids and families to the rich music scene at The Floyd Country Store.
The camp takes place at the Floyd Event Center, which is part of the Floyd EcoVillage. The facility features a beautiful and secluded setting on 75 private acres just a few miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway and the charming town center of Floyd. There’s lodging available onsite at EcoVillage for families wanting to make a trip out of this unique event.
Youth Get Together director, Sophie Moeckel, says “Our mission is to ensure that kids coming to this program experience the community and joy found in our traditional music and dance. Some of the most beautiful moments last year showcased the multi-generational aspects of traditional music. Older students helped younger, young people interacted with older music legends, and everyone felt confident and supported in their own role in the jam circle, whether they’d picked up an instrument for the first time that week, or had been playing for years. It was amazing to see the support and confidence that kids felt to play, sing, and dance with their peers and in front of their community during the week, and to see how campers have continued to interact with the vibrant music scene that Floyd has to offer today. It’s an honor to facilitate this experience and watch these young people develop a musical language that can serve them for the rest of their lives”
Over 50% of students at the 2022 Youth Get Together attended with scholarships from the Handmade Music School’s Share the Music Scholarship Fund. The Handmade Music School is asking the community to consider a donation to the program to continue to help make this camp accessible and welcoming to everyone in our community.
Learn more about the Youth Get Together Camp here:
https://handmademusicschool.com/news/announcing-the-floyd-youth-get-together-2023/
Learn more about the Share the Music Scholarship Fund here:
https://handmademusicschool.com/scholarships/
Learn more about Handmade Music School at https://handmademusicschool.com/.
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The Handmade Music School, located in Floyd County, Virginia, strives to cultivate and strengthen community through experiences in music and dance rooted in our Appalachian traditions. Handmade Music School is dedicated to teaching old time, bluegrass, and traditional music and dance from Floyd County, Virginia and throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains. The philosophy of The Handmade Music School is to “hand down” the songs and dances from the teacher to the student, phrase by phrase and step by step, the way it’s been taught in the Blue Ridge Mountains for centuries.
