Author Archives: SinginKuz

A Little Lax on the Early Bird…

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OUR ORIGINAL MAY 1st EARLY BIRD EXTENSION
HAS COME & GONE BUT WE’RE A LITTLE LAX…

which means you can still get a 15% – $40-$50 – discount!
But this won’t last for long!!
REGISTER NOW & use “early bird” as the promo code.

Sign up for multiple weeks and GET $105-$125 OFF!

Additional siblings & referrals gets you even more discounts.

And don’t forget that the fee listed is the price you pay.
There are no other additional fees or taxes charged!

 

IN CASE YOU DON’T KNOW, MusiCamp is an excellent summer day camp experience for kids (8-14 years) that explores music making in a positive environment, filled with activities that build your child’s musical skills and challenges their creativity in intuitive and fun ways.
The activities are designed to supplement traditional formal musical training but also be accessible to the less experienced… read more

 

THIS YEAR’S WEEKLY THEMES
The Blues

All the greats – from the Rolling Stones and Daft Punk to Beyonce and Katy Perry –  know the blues. So should you!

Composition & Song

Appeals to aspiring song writers and singers, with practical and fun hands on experience at composing and arranging!

Roots Music

Call on fiddlers, guitarists, ukulele and banjo players and others who just love to sing and harmonize. Special guest this week is acclaimed roots musician Hannah Naiman. (Rental of instruments can be arranged.)

West African Drumming

It’s all about polyrhythms and the GROOVE. No need for a drum, guest mast drummer, Anna Melnikoff is bringing her chorus of dunks and djembes.

More about our camps themes and registration can be accessed here.

 

 

visit our Flickr Gallery – click on the images below

MusiCamp at a glance

Early Bird Discount at MusiCamp

Posted on by

OUR ORIGINAL MAY 1st EARLY BIRD EXTENSION
HAS COME & GONE BUT WE’RE A LITTLE LAX…

which means you can still get a 15% – $40-$50 – discount!
Use “early bird” as the promo code when registering

Sign up for multiple weeks and GET $105-$125 OFF!

Additional siblings & referrals gets you even more discounts.

And don’t forget that the fee listed is the price you pay.
There are no other additional fees or taxes charged!

 

IN CASE YOU DON’T KNOW, MusiCamp is an excellent summer day camp experience for kids (8-14 years) that explores music making in a positive environment, filled with activities that build your child’s musical skills and challenges their creativity in intuitive and fun ways.
The activities are designed to supplement traditional formal musical training but also be accessible to the less experienced… read more

 

THIS YEAR’S WEEKLY THEMES
The Blues

All the greats – from the Rolling Stones and Daft Punk to Beyonce and Katy Perry –  know the blues. So should you!

Composition & Song

Appeals to aspiring song writers and singers, with practical and fun hands on experience at composing and arranging!

Roots Music

Call on fiddlers, guitarists, ukulele and banjo players and others who just love to sing and harmonize. Special guest this week is acclaimed roots musician Hannah Naiman. (Rental of instruments can be arranged.)

West African Drumming

It’s all about polyrhythms and the GROOVE. No need for a drum, guest mast drummer, Anna Melnikoff is bringing her chorus of dunks and djembes.

More about our camps themes and registration can be accessed here.

 

 

visit our Flickr Gallery – click on the images below

MusiCamp at a glance

Lecture on Georgian Polyphony

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Andrea Kuzmich, MusiCamp’s director, is guest lecturing at Ryerson University, for the Traditional Musics of the World Course.

Georgia, is located in the mountainous region of the Caucasus, the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Its ancient singing tradition, known for its distinctive and haunting harmonies, was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible masterpiece of humanity in 2001. The 3-part form defies Western conventions and comes in a plethora of musical dialects, reflecting the diverse geographical and cultural makeup of the land.
This hour-long lecture will introduces traditional singing practices of Georgia by exploring the variety of polyphonic singing styles through musical examples (audio and video) as well descriptive analysis. It will also reflect on how the practices figures into the region’s historic, geographic and cultural contexts.

Guest Lecture on Georgian Polyphony by Andrea Kuzmich
For the Traditional Musics of the World Course
POD 368, Ryerson University
Cost: Free.

New Date for African Drumming Week 2016

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The new date for West African Drumming week is Aug 22-26 2016.

 

We just wanted to let everyone know. Please pass this info along to others who may need it.
And don’t forget to save on early bird registration!

 

6-week Georgian Singing Workshop

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A 6 Week Workshop led by Shalva Makharashvili and Andrea Kuzmich
MONDAYS 7 – 9 PM April 11 – May 16 2016
at the MusiCamp studio
$240 for new participants; $200 for repeat students
More info or register by email through our contact page

The picture above is of workshop leader Shalva with his children singing with Basiani, one of Georgia’s acclaimed state folk ensembles. Have a listen to them here.

IMG_1558Take part in a Georgian singing workshop and join the thousands of voices before you that have contributed to this millennia-old folk tradition. Georgia, is located in the mountainous region of the Caucasus, the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Its ancient singing tradition, known for its distinctive and haunting harmonies, was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible masterpiece of humanity in 2001. The 3-part form defies Western conventions and comes in a plethora of musical dialects, reflecting the diverse geographical and cultural makeup of the land.

Canada’s foremost experts in Georgian polyphony, Georgian-born singer/multi-instrumentalist Shalva Makharashvili and Andrea Kuzmich, will be leading the workshop. In this series, we’ll take a look a variety of regional styles and song-types (work/travel/table/love songs and chants). At the end of the 6 weeks we’ll have a little performance for friends and family… and a little toast – to keep it in the Georgian tradition…

For some samples of Georgian songs have a listen to Shalva’s and Andrea’s trio soundcloud playlist

To register for the workshop send us an email through the contact us page.

 

Early Bird Discount at MusiCamp

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Before April 15 2016 GET $40-$50 OFF!

Sign up for multiple weeks and GET $105-$125 OFF!

Additional siblings & referrals get you even more discounts.

And don’t forget that the fee listed is the price you pay.
There are no other additional fees or taxes charged!

 

IN CASE YOU DON’T KNOW, MusiCamp is an excellent summer day camp experience for kids (8-14 years) that explores music making in a positive environment, filled with activities that build your child’s musical skills and challenges their creativity in intuitive and fun ways.
The activities are designed to supplement traditional formal musical training but also be accessible to the less experienced… read more


THIS YEAR’S WEEKLY THEMES
  • WEST AFRICAN DRUMMING with guest instructor AnnA Melnikof
  • ROOTS MUSIC with guest instructor Hannah Naiman
  • THE BLUES – From Shouts to 12 Bars
  • COMPOSITION & SONG
More about our camps themes and registration can be accessed here.

 

 
 
 

visit our Flickr Gallery – click on the images below

MusiCamp at a glance

2016 MusiCamp Themes & Fees

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15% EARLY BIRD registration discount before April 15!
$25 discount for additional weeks, siblings and referrals!
No additional fees or taxes charged!

 

July 4-8 ~ THE BLUES: FROM SHOUTS TO 12 BARS ~ $275 … more info →
July 11-15 ~ COMPOSITION & SONG ~ $275 … more info →
Aug 8-12 ~ ROOTS MUSIC (guest artist!) ~ $325 ….  more info →
Aug 22-26 ~ WEST AFRICAN DRUMMING (guest artist!) ~ $325 … more info →

 

  • Class sizes are small.
  • All-day (9am-4pm) programming with extended care available from 8am-6pm.
  • No formal training is required. No instrument required – just an enjoyment of music
  • Our intuitive approach to exploring sound, music, composition, the voice, and the weekly themes also functions as a great supplement to conventional music lessons
  • We also integrate crafts (instrument and mask making), backyard games, Pizza-making Wednesdays in Dufferin Grove park and other outdoor fun
  • Limited financial assistance is available on a per person basis. (Contact MusiCamp for more info)
  • 2016 Registration can be accessed here

 

visit our Flickr Gallery – click on the images below

MusiCamp at a glance

REGISTRATION 2016

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REGISTRATION FOR 2017 SUMMER CAMPS WILL OPEN MARCH 1st!

15% EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION before April 15

$25 DISCOUNT
for registering more than one child, for each additional week,* and for referrals.

AND DON’T FORGET THE FEE LISTED IS THE FEE YOU PAY
THERE ARE NO ADDITIONAL FEES OR TAXES CHARGED!

 

SECURED ONLINE 2016 REGISTRATION

or

DOWNLOAD 2016 REGISTRATION FORM

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* additional-week discount override $25 sibling discount. In other words, sibling discounts only apply to the first week. For example, a family with 2 children may register both for the first week and $25 discount is applied to that week. If they both register for an additional week, then the $25 additional-week discount is applied to each child, for a total discount of $50.
note: camp weeks with guest artists require a minimum number of registrants for specialized programming. Please contact for more details.

Instrument Making at MusiCamp

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Yes, these are real, playable instruments. They aren’t toys or kids’ versions. They are still played today and have an interesting social history worth telling. But best of all, they are fun to play and are excellent pedagogical tools for teaching musical concepts of tonality and harmony.

 

The Diddley Bow

The diddley bow is the instrument featured in the picture above on the left. As you can hear and see in the video below, the diddley bow is played with the neck of a glass bottle and a stick (though at MusiCamp we replace the glass bottle with a copper washer, it’s a little less dangerous). The result is very bluesy! No wonder the diddley bow is considered the precursor to the slide blues guitar.

The diddley bow is related to many different instruments found around the world (like the andibidi from the Congo, the umakweyana of West Africa, the dan bau of Vietnam, the gobichand of India). But this particular set up, a metal string expanded over wooden 2X4 (it used to be the wall or beam of house) with a metal or glass resonator, is of African American origin and emerged out of  the ugly social and economic conditions of slavery in the Southern United States.

More pictures of the diddley bow construction at MusiCamp can be found here.

The Bucket Bass

The featured image at the top of this post show three campers building/painting their bucket basses.

Below is a video of Andrea, MusiCamp’s director, and her son performing In The Highways Of The Hedges with the bucket bass. NOTE, you need headphones or good speakers to hear the bass because laptops and mobile devices tend to cut out the bottom end.

The bucket bass, closely related to the washtub or tea-chest bass, is not so different from the diddley bow. Both are one-stringed instruments and vary the tension on the string to alter pitch. The emergence and use of either the bucket, the washtub or the chest as a resonator is similarly linked to conditions of economic hardship.

For more information about the construction of the bucket bass visit our earlier post about making a washtub bass.

Cigar Box Diddley Bow

In 2015 we started making cigar box diddley bows as well (picture below).

cigarbox diddleybow

6-week Georgian Singing Workshop

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A 6 Week Workshop led by Shalva Makharashvili and Andrea Kuzmich
THURSDAY 7-9 PM February 4 – March 10 2016
at the MusiCamp studio
$240 for new participants; $200 for repeat students
Register by email through our contact page

IMG_1558Take part in a Georgian singing workshop and join the thousands of voices before you that have contributed to this millennia-old folk tradition. Georgia, is located in the mountainous region of the Caucasus, the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Its ancient singing tradition, known for its distinctive and haunting harmonies, was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible masterpiece of humanity in 2001. The 3-part form defies Western conventions and comes in a plethora of musical dialects, reflecting the diverse geographical and cultural makeup of the land.
Canada’s foremost experts in Georgian polyphony, Georgian-born singer/multi-instrumentalist Shalva Makharashvili and Andrea Kuzmich, will be leading the workshop. In this series, we’ll take a look a variety of regional styles and song-types (work/travel/table/love songs and chants). At the end of the 6 weeks we’ll have a little performance for friends and family… and a little toast – to keep it in the Georgian tradition…

* If you are interested, let us know what evening works best for you and we’ll try to best accommodate your availability.For some samples of Georgian songs have a listen to Shalva’s and Andrea’s trio soundcloud playlist

To register for the workshop send us an email through the contact us page.