It's All About Your Sound, Music Camp in Long Island and New Jersey

In Rock Camp and Jazz Workshop our music summer camp in Long Island, Bridgehampton, and Lebanon, New Jersey, we focus on what makes a great sound on your instrument. Whether you are a pianist, guitarist, drummer, singer, or whatever your instrument is, your sound is your what makes your music unique to you.

Often times many teachers will focus on the “what.” This is the scale that works over this harmony, and that is something we need to know, but there is something more important than that, your sound. Your sound or your voice on your instrument is what draws the listener closer to the music. It is something unique to you and something that should be developed side by side with learning music techniques, harmony, and rhythm.

So how does one work on one’s sound? For wind instruments, saxophone, flute, trumpet, etc…, you will focus on your breath and embouchure paying attention to things like vibrato, and your approach to how you play the note (legato, staccato). For pianists, guitarists, bassists, and drummers we pay attention to playing without tension, your attack (how you strike the note, thinking like a drummer), the position of your body and how that can change your sound.

Working on one’s sound is a process that takes place over time, and just having that awareness will help you create a sound that is personal and unique to you, a voice that expresses all you have to say in music!

Here are a few examples of musicians with distinct voices on their instruments.

Rock Camp & Jazz Workshop, The Premier Music Camp for Summer 2022 in the Hamptons, Long Island and New Jersey

If you love music, you are in the right spot. Rock Camp and Jazz Workshop are two summer camp programs happening this summer in the Hamptons and New Jersey in which students of all ages, teens, adults gather to learn music in a fun and inspiring environment.

ROCK CAMP…..What We DO!

Meets 9-3 pm

At Rock Camp we start with a brief morning meeting where all students meet up and there is a 20 minute hands on workshop (one day could be polyrhythms, another day the music from another country, jam session, etc..).

- We then dive into morning lessons (instrumental or vocals). Students can choose a second instrument for afternoon lessons.

- Students then join their morning band (music chosen in collaboration with teacher, usually spans the history of the music, from the 50's/60's to a song that came out last month. Students also work on original music.

- We break for lunch and students then have time to relax and hang with their friends.....then volleyball, soccer, or they play with others on their own. Teachers also meet with students 1-1.

- Then we have electives, more niche topics (song writing, reading/writing, African drumming, harmony, improvisation, solo guitar, learning logic, sibelius, etc....).

- Afternoon Lessons.

- Afternoon Band, a different band and teacher than the morning.

- At the end of the week students then do a performance for family, friends, and the public.

Jazz Workshop…..What We DO!

Meets 3-5 pm

Jazz Workshop is a music summer camp and workshop in the Hamptons and New Jersey that meets in the afternoons and its goal is to teach students how to play jazz through:

• Lessons (private or small group).

• Ensembles, learning and playing music from the jazz repertoire (Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Dave Brubeck, and many others).

• Instruction on improvisation, harmony and chords, and learning to master your instrument as you grow as a musician and find your voice and sound.

The Power of 7 Notes, Rock Camp in New Jersey and the Hamptons

7 notes make up the C major scale. It;’s simple, basic, and yet it’s nothing but simple. Why? Well, when played as a ladder of notes up and down, its sounds like a regular music exercise, but when one starts combing notes to be played at the same time, it creates harmony or chords.

Ok, cool, but so what? Well, if you play that same simple C major scale but now in triads (3 notes chords) up and down the scale you are entering another world. So instead of paying: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, (C) up and down, you now can play C-E-G (C Major triad), then D-F-A (D Minor triad), then E-G-B (E Minor triad), etc… up the scale and down. You can play the triads as one block or arpeggiate it.

Btw, once you you can go up the C major scale, then try the other keys. There are only 12 of them. You can either go up or down chromatically or follow the circle of 5ths pattern (C, G, D, A, E, B, F# (G Flat), D Flat, A Flat, E Flat, B Flat, F, C).

Ok, cool, but now what? Well, from these triads or blocks of sound, these can form the building blocks to creating new music, your music! Just experiment with different patterns within the scale until you find a progression that really speaks to you. Just have fun and stay curious.

Here is a really cool video of Paul McCartney (one of the great song writers of our time) getting into it. Enjoy!!

At Rock Camp and Jazz Workshop in New Jersey and the Hamptons, we’ll get into this concept as a way to explore song writing and improvisation.