Music is a Language, Long Island Music Camp, Rock Camp and Jazz Workshop

In our music camp in Bridgehampton, Long Island, we approach learning music in the same way you learn to speak your native language. How is this done?

When we are all kids we lean to speak with words, then phrases, then complete sentences, and as we grow older find ourselves in situations where we need to speak in public to small and large crowds. Along with that we learn in a very intuitive way how to accent certain words and letters to express our ideas and emotions. To deepen our knowledge we learn to read and write and keep refining these skills throughout our life.

Learning music is the same thing. Here is a great video by the bassist, Victor Wooten, diving further into this idea.

Just as a child will have conversations at the dinner table, it’s the same in Rock Camp and Jazz Workshop in Bridgehampton, Long Island. You will play in multiple bands, you will have lessons, you will perform, you will interact with many different musicians (your age and older), and you will have many different teachers. With each teacher and student musician you interact with you will learn and get inspired in a myriad of ways.

So whether you a beginner or advanced musician, come as you are, and get ready to speak music!

An Inner Confidence Rises Up, Music, Art, Dance, Theater Camp in the Hamptons

Through the years I have noticed an inner confidence emerge from students in our music, art, dance, theater camp in the Hamptons and New Jersey. Something happens when someone throws himself or herself into something and creates something that they never thought was possible.

When students arrive at our music camp, our art camp, our theater camp, and our dance camp in the Hamptons and New Jersey, there is a mix of excitement and maybe a bit of nervous energy. It’s amazing to see how this feeling transforms into a certain confidence that comes through performance and sharing your talents with your peers, family, and the public. It’s not showy…it’s a kind of quiet, inner confidence that radiates outward that’s built on accomplishments that they have seen through on their own with their fellow musicians, dancers, artists, and actors.

How a "Mistake" in Music Can Say So Much, Rock Camp, Jazz Workshop, Dance Intensive, Theater Workshop in New Jersey and the Hamptons

One of the benefits of learning music is you learn to adapt to change in the moment. Creating something whether its music, art, dance, or theater, you have to work as a team, and embracing change is part of that. This is something you will learn and experience at Rock Camp, Jazz Workshop, Dance Intensive, and Theater Workshop in New Jersey and the Hamptons. The bass player may be rushing the beat a little bit, the drummer forgets the cue going to the bridge, an actor forgets a line, a painter makes a brush stroke he didn’t intend. What do you do, especially if it’s during a live performance?

Here is a fascinating video of the great pianist Herbie Hancock talking about making a “mistake” at the piano in a performance with the trumpeter Miles Davis. Herbie talks about cringing when it happened, but then he talks about how MIles Davis heard what happened and altered his notes to make his “mistake” something perfect. Herbie goes to say how this experience taught him to approach music and life differently. So good, check it out.

Summer Music Camp in Long Island

We have three amazing music programs for students of all ages at our music camp in Long Island: Rock Camp, Jazz Workshop, and Adult Lessons.

Rock Camp

This is what a day on Rock Camp looks like:

9 am - Morning Meeting. Everyone meets up outside for a short hands on workshop. One day it could on poly-rhythms from Africa, Cuba, or Brazil. Then next day, we may have a 15 minuet jam session where everyone takes out their instrument (we have keyboards for the pianists), and we learn a new song as a group. Another day, there may be our morning meeting be on acapella singing: This is also a time for everyone to socialize and for us to come together as a whole community.

9:30 - 10:30 - Lessons. You will meet with your respective teacher and have a lesson on your instrument. This may be a private lesson or you may be in a small group with fellow musicians. You may be new to music or you may be experienced. All the same, come as you are. This is a time to really dig and learn your instrument.

10:30-Noon - Morning Band. You will meet up with your band teacher and with your fellow students you will learn songs that make up Rock n Roll. That could mean music that was released last year to music from the Beatles. Rock is like a very wide umbrella and there are many sub styles under it….we get into most all of them. You also will get into songwriting and creating original music with your group.

12-12:30 - Lunch. Relax, hang with your new friends, eat, get your second wind.

12:30-1 - Play volleyball, play music with your friends on your own. There is a different outdoor activity every day.

1-2 - Afternoon Lessons. Here you can either study a second instrument or study vocals, or you can have a second lesson on your main instrument.

2-3 - Afternoon Band. Here you will be a new band, new teacher and different students from your morning band.

FRIDAY - CONCERT FOR FAMILY, FRIENDS, PUBLIC.

Jazz Workshop

Our jazz camp in New Jersey and the Hamptons is meant for musicians who want to take their music to another level in terms of improvising, finding their creative voice, and making music with like minded musicians who love music as much as you do. We have an adult class, a class for high school musicians, and a separate division for our middle school musicians in our jazz camp which meets in July in the afternoons, 3-5 pm (July 11-15 in New Jersey, and July 18-22 in the Hamptons). Whether you are an adult, a college students, a high schooler, or someone own middle school hungry to learn, you will find a welcome home here at Jazz Workshop.

Adult Lessons

This is a program that offers private and small group lessons to adults looking to learn and instrument or an advanced musician looking to take his or her music to another level. The exact curriculum is designed around the interest and goals of the student.

Jazz Camp in New Jersey and the Hamptons

Our jazz camp in New Jersey and the Hamptons is meant for musicians who want to take their music to another level in terms of improvising, finding their creative voice, and making music with like minded musicians who love music as much as you do. We have an adult class, a class for high school musicians, and a separate division for our middle school musicians in our jazz camp which meets in July in the afternoons, 3-5 pm (July 11-15 in New Jersey, and July 18-22 in the Hamptons). Whether you are an adult, a college students, a high schooler, or someone own middle school hungry to learn, you will find a welcome home here at Jazz Workshop.

Many musicians in our jazz camp ask about soloing and how to improvise. A few things come to mind.

1. A great solo is like a great story. Just like a great story, whether its a movie or in a book, has an arch, the same is true in music. There is a narrative that one can follow, with a theme or various themes. There is a beginning, middle, and an end. There is dialogue which translates into how a soloist articulates his or her ideas and uses spaces, pauses, exclamations, just like when we speak.

2. The soloist’s ideas are tied into the harmony of the music, and when it’s not connected to the harmony (when someone plays outside the key for instance) it’s done in a purposeful way.

3. A solo is alive, in the moment, and responds and interacts with the band playing.

There are many many amazing soloists in jazz, each with his or her unique voice. Here is the great Sonny Rollins soloing over his song St. Thomas.

Summer Jazz Camp in New Jersey and Long Island, Jazz Workshop

Jazz Workshop is a music camp in New Jersey and the Hamptons that aims to take students to a higher level through mastering their instrument or voice, how to solo, how to understand harmony, and inspiring students to find their individual voice in music.

Let’s look at George Gershwin’s song, Summertime, as an example of how we can dive into the music.

1. As a baseline for improvising on this song we need to know that we are in the key of d minor, and everyone will play the triads for d minor, g minor, and A major, root position and with inversions.

2. We see in measure 2 and 3, that we have a ii-V-i pattern. The II-V-I and it’s minor key equivelent, ii-V-i, is a harmonic cornerstone to many jazz songs, particularly music of the American Songbook. So after understanding this we need to put this knowledge in our fingers, voice, and become fluent with playing II-V-I’s passages in different ways and in different keys.

3. What about improvising? Well, there are many approaches we can take. A macro approach, and a way to just start getting into the music would be to review the d and g harmonic minor scales, as well as the f major scale. The d harmonic minor scale (d-e-f-g-a-b flat-c sharp) can be used over measure 1-3, 7-11, 14-16 while the g harmonic minor scale (g-a-b flat-c-d-e flat-f sharp) can be used in measures 4-6. The F major scale can be used in measures 12 and 13.

This is only one of many ways to start creating your own melodies over the song. Initially it’s important to learn the building blocks (scales, arpeggios, etc..), but once you have this understanding, one needs to throw this knowledge out the window in a way, and start creating melodies and lines that come from your voice, your own creativity, what you are hearing into the music. Then the music really comes alive and will inspire you and everyone listening!

Music Camp in New Jersey and Hamptons, 3 Things to Know

I have seen a few different approaches to music camps/education.....At Rock Camp and Jazz Workshop, our summer music camp in New Jersey and the Hamptons, I can confidently say we are the 3rd approach, without a doubt!

1. A fluffy-music-appreciation type of experience - that's not us (I am having flashbacks to when my children were very young and we took a few of these classes).

2. A hardcore conservatory approach (i.e Manhatten School of Music, Julliard...this is great but it's meant for older students and is meant as a pre-professional, bootcamp approach) -that's definitely not us either......

3. Banff Approach (a great center for the arts in western Canada). This is us!

The environment is social, fun, friendly, and students are inspired to learn and create as much from their teachers as their fellow musicians. You are surrounded by teachers who are pursuing careers in music who love to share with others. An interest in music or anything I suppose, is something that should be nurtured and allowed to grow at the same time.

Diving Into the Roots of Rock, Rock Camp & Jazz Workshop, Summer Music Camp in Long Island and New Jersey

At our music camp in the Hamptons, Long Island and New Jersey, we make sure to understand our roots and where the music comes from, the heroes, innovators, and creative spirit of those sung and unsung. So what makes Fats Domino of New Orleans so important in the growth of rock?

First off, Fats Domino was from New Orleans. Well, we know New Orleans as the birthplace of jazz, and of course blues is a cousin to jazz, living side-by-side. A piano style developed out of jazz and blues and Fats knew it well, Boogie Woogie. This involves a driving left hand pattern in the left hand and the right hand plays syncopated lines on top of usually played over the blues or a song with changes that reflect I, IV, V harmony of the blues. Great musicians of this style include Gene Ammons, Professor Longhair, Meade Lux Lewis, and later rock-n-roll musicians like Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Fats Domino. Professor Longhair’s music had something else to it, a distinctly New Orleans rhumba-rhythm infused in the music which was very influential to great musicians like Dr. John and Allen Toussaint.

In the 1950’s Fats was able to infuse his music with a triplet feel and his song “The Fat Man” went to #2 on the R&B charts. The site SPClarke.com explains it well down below:

“The Fat Man” is often referred to as the first Rock and Roll song, although such assertions will always be the subject of great dispute. As far as Fats was concerned, he was merely playing the same sort of music he had been playing in New Orleans for years. Referring to being called the “Father of Rock and Roll,” Domino, himself, later said, “Well I wouldn’t want to say that I started it, but I don’t remember anyone else before me playing that kind of stuff.” Whatever the case, Fats Domino was suddenly a Rhythm and Blues star.

This led the way to rock-n-roll hits like Blueberry Hill.

But we all know everything comes from something else, and when we peel things back we also have to give a shout out to the great musician Little Willie Littlefield. His song of 1949, It’s Midnight, pre-dates Fats Domino and he is credited as someone who helped popularize the triplet feel in the music.

Music just goes its own way, and if you like it becomes a part of you. It’s cool that the B-side of the 1985 Paul McCartney single "Spies Like Us", entitled "My Carnival" was recorded in New Orleans and dedicated to Professor Longhair. And if you listen to the Beatles song Oh! Darlin you hear how it’s rooted in the sound and rhythm of many of these innovative and creative shining stars of early rhythm and blues, boogie woogie, and rock-n-roll.

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.

Words of Wisdom for Musicians at Rock Camp and Jazz Workshop Camp in the Hamptons and New Jersey

Love these words of wisdom about making music from the trumpter Doc Severinsen....Something all of us at Rock Camp and Jazz Workshop in the Hamptons and New Jersey use a source of inspiration. I remember him as a flashy and charismatic trumpeter who was great at small talk on the “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.” Glad I came across this to understand the real person and talented musician he is!

"Speaking to an auditorium of students, Severinsen was asked by one pupil what makes a trumpet player the best in his field. His reply was a masterclass in reveling in the beauty of music and the present moment.

“I think it’s what’s in you,” he replied. “How do you feel about other people? Are you nice to other people? Do you see the best in them? Can you cry when you play a melody that’s so beautiful it deserves every tear you can give? You’re so filled with joy, that it comes out in the form of tears. Release all the bad things you ever thought about, all the sadness you’ve ever had in your life is gone, and you’re joyous."

“That’s why I play the trumpet. I do it because I love it. You gotta have some humor in your life. Get a laugh out of life, and you’ll play better,” Severinsen said. “The happy people are the lucky people. Be happy.”

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/at-93-doc-severinsen-can-teach-us-all-some-things-about-remaining-creative-and-active/17744/

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.