The 2023 CBA Summer Music Camp will be our 23rd annual Camp at the Nevada County Fairgrounds June 11th – 14th in Grass Valley, California.
Registration is open!
This year’s world class faculty line-up is on course to be one of the best yet, with exciting new faces and perennial favorites.
If you play Bluegrass or Old-time music, this is the camp for you…
Register Online here
The California Bluegrass Association’s Summer Music Camp is for advanced-beginners and intermediate players who want to improve their instrumental or vocal skills and work on jamming with others.
Camp starts Sunday June 11th with check-in, casual jams, and introductory classes and continues into the evening with a camp tour, dinner, instructor introductions, a first-night square dance… and more jamming!
Monday through Wednesday consist of intensive class sessions and afternoon elective classes and workshops on a wide range of topics.
Evening activities include staff and student concerts, Old-time dances, and… more jamming!
The camp concludes on Wednesday evening with a post-camp/pre-festival concert.
Registration
Registration for 2023 Music Camp opens February 1st! Please note that some classes fill up on the first day. The class you want may not fill up in the first day or two, but why take chances? For best choice of classes, early online registration is strongly advised!
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Classes, Electives, and Jams
Camping and Meals
Camping is included at no additional charge.
Meal tickets for delicious catered meals will be available and cover 3 meals a day including the ever-popular after-camp lasagna meal! There are vegetarian options.
For Kids
While classes are geared toward adults, we offer a special program called Fungrass for children or siblings of campers who are not yet ready for camp classes, but are interested in music, arts and crafts, and fun!
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- Your instrument(s). Don’t forget capos, picks, spare strings, etc. The camp store will have accessories, but they might not have your particular favorites.
- A tuner!
- Clothing for hot days, warm or cool nights–be sure to include hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen. We say this, though we occasionally have an unseasonably cool year, which requires a whole different wardrobe, so check the weather forecast for Grass Valley. But it’s usually very pleasant.
- If you’re tent camping, bring camping supplies (tent, sleeping bag, etc). A nice level camping space under the pines, drinking water, bathrooms, and showers with limited supplies of hot water are provided. There are no picnic tables at the sites or BBQs. So a camp table will be helpful, and a camp stool for jamming is nice. Also, you can bring a comfortable chair for the evening concerts.
- To help conserve resources, please bring a travel mug for drinks and a refillable water bottle.
- For classes, a notebook and pen, battery-powered recording device (cell phone?), and extra batteries are very helpful and in some classes essential.
- A cushion for your chair if you’re into comfort.
- Earplugs if you’re a light sleeper.
- Flashlight or headlamp.
- If you have a large or heavy instrument, you may want to consider bringing a wheeled carrier for making travel to classes easier. Lightweight, easy-carry gig bags are good for the same reason.
- You may like to have something soft to stand on if you’re a bass player and get tired feet standing on cement floors.
- Bring a yoga mat if you have one and want to attend the yoga classes.
- Toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc.
- And don’t forget your dancing shoes!
- Pets – Although some kinds of pets are allowed in the campground and in RVs, no pets are allowed in the Fairgrounds during the Music Camp or the Fathers Day Festival.
- Bicycles – Bicycles are not allowed in the Fairgrounds during the Music Camp (or the Fathers Day Festival).
- Loud electric instruments, unless they were played by the Carter Family.
- Illegal drugs or firearms.
I am the current director of the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop and the California Coast Music Camp. I have been involved in the running of Puget Sound Guitar Camp since 1982 and California Coast Music Camp since 2009. I also co-direct numerous other music and arts retreats in the Pacific Northwest. In 1980, my first year going to the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, I met the four women who became the band Motherlode. We are still together and still the same 4 women. We play mostly what I would call contemporary folk. I play the guitar and ‘cello as well as joining the other three in composing and singing our songs. I have recorded records with Motherlode as well as laid down ‘cello tracks on various artists’ albums. I love a good sad song. I am so pleased to be back helping out CBA Music Camp as things get off the ground. I am ready to re-connect with friends and to hear how the years have been for you all musically. Let the fun begin!
Adam Roszkiewicz is a Grammy nominated mulit-instrumentalist and composer from the west coast of the United States. Specializing in Folk, Americana, and Classical Crossover genres he has played with the Modern Mandolin Quartet, Front Country, Small Town Therapy, the Ger Mandolin Orchestra, and many others. Adam has performed at music festivals around the world including: Merle Fest, Grey Fox, Bristol Rhythm and Roots, Rockygrass, Telluride, the La Roche bluegrass festival in France, the Didmartin bluegrass festival in England, the Blue Highways festival in Utrecht, Holland, the Singer Festival in Warsaw, Poland and the Hardly-Strictly-Bluegrass festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. In 2013 Adam received a Grammy nomination for his work with the Modern Mandolin Quartet.
Adam also received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of music. In addition to extensive performing experience, Adam is also an active music instructor having spent over 15 years teaching at music camps, giving private lessons, group classes, and workshops on guitar, mandolin, banjo, and composition.