Blues Improvisation & Girls Who Rock Camp // Ages 10+ August 21, 2017

In this hands-on performance camp, students will learn all the licks and grooves made famous by legends like Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy, Etta James, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Koko Taylor. The blues has influenced rock musicians from Elvis to Led Zeppelin to the Black Keys, and pretty much everyone in between. The Blues were sung to help people express sorrow, to make the listener feel better, and to tell a story. The blues were the underground aquifer that fed all the streams of American music, including: Jazz, r&b, soul, and rock and roll. Students will use the 12 bar blues format as a vehicle to gain fluency with improvisation and creating a melodic line within that structure. The camp will culminate with students transcribing their own 12 bar blues solos on all of the instruments!

For the girls, student vocalists will learn the distinct techniques and styles of some of the greatest blues vocalists including Janis Joplin, Susan Tedeski, Billie Holiday and Bonnie Raitt.