Your summer practice inspiration starts right here with a slew of guest artists to keep you motivated and enthusiastic.
Music making to start the summer off right. Explore Appalachian instruments, crafts and more!
PacJAM Summer Camp 2025 – June 23-27, 8:30-noon
$165 for 1 Student
$132 for each additional sibling
Scholarships available
Student End of Camp Concert – Friday, June 27th 11:30-12:30
Go home, get a snack and join us for PacJAM FEST that evening!
PacJAM Summer Camp Classes for Everyone!
Join PacJAM summer camp to hone your Bluegrass and Old-Time skills with renowned local, national, and international musicians! Your summer practice inspiration starts right here with a number of guest artists and teachers to keep you inspired.
Beginning students will sing, have group instrument lessons, create Appalachian art, and begin to learn to JAM.
Intermediate students will rise to the next level of playing, challenged by our summer camp instructors. They will JAM, have group instrument instruction, be coached in improvisation and music theory, and relax with Appalachian arts & crafts.
Advanced students will participate in intensive seminars strengthening their soloing and back-up abilities, be pushed in their JAMming skills, and explore theory and composition on their instruments.
Tracks offered:
Beginning ukulele, for ages 5-7 SUMMER CAMP ONLY
Beginning, Intermediate, or Advanced Fiddle, Guitar, Mandolin, Bass, and Banjo (3-finger and clawhammer style)
Cast & Crew
Cassidy Beentjes, from Wrightington, England, is a brilliant composer, guitarist and 3-finger banjo player who studied at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, England. Cassidy currently performs and teaches in Philadelphia, and is now in his second year of being Bela Fleck’s personal transcriber/arranger for his annual Blue Ridge Banjo Camp in Brevard!
Devin Jones and Carson Moore are joining PacJAM camp from Berklee School of Music. Devin hails from Fredricksburg, Virginia and plays with Liam Purcell in Cane Mill Road and has been mentored by Bryan Sutton. He is excited to once again give PacJAM’s guitar students a masterclass in flat-picking and bluegrass back-up. Carson returns to his bluegrass home looking forward to guiding JAMs and teaching improvisation.
Sam Stage is a remarkable fiddle player from Raleigh who is now studying at Berklee College of Music. He is a winner of both the 2021 RockyGrass Fiddle Competition and the 2022 FreshGrass Fiddle Award and the youngest selected participant in Silkroad’s 2022 Global Musician Workshop. He’s excited to share his wealth of fiddle knowledge with our campers!
Emily Brock, PacJAM’s favorite art teacher, joins PacJAM camp again this summer to bring Appalachian crafts to our JAM students. Students love her organized and integrated lessons and her classes are always an enjoyable reset from all of the picking.
PacJAM teachers Gaye Johnson (guitar, vocals, story-telling), Emily Riesser (fiddle), and Will Trakas (mandolin, guitar, vocals) and other favorite teachers round out the camp line-up.
PacJAM Adult Classes
Monday thru Thursday, 12:30-1:30. $20/one class or $75 for the whole week (2 courses/4 classes)
Courses:
Monday & Tuesday:
Adult Mandolin – Will Trakas
Adult Fiddle – Sam Stage
Adult Guitar – Devin Jones & Gaye Johnson
Adult Banjo (clawhammer & 3-finger welcome) – Cassidy Beentjes & Carson Moore
Wednesday & Thursday:
Bluegrass JAM – Will Trakas, Devin Jones & friends
Using Theory to Become a Better Musician – Cassidy Beentjes: Get a sneak peak of the class Bela Fleck asked Cassidy to teach at his upcoming banjo camp! Don’t be scared by words like counterpoint… instead take a gentle dive into theory with Cassidy and see how your own musical ideas immediately improve. All instruments welcome to this class that was a hit from last year!
