California Coast Camp 2012

[NewsFetcher]

The Mandolin Cafe has posted the following news release:
California Coast Camp 2012

California Coast Music Camp (CCMC), celebrating their 21st year in bringing the finest in quality music instruction to adults has announced the dates of their two week-long summer programs: July 8-14 and July 15-21, 2012.



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[Paul Kotapish]

This is a fabulous camp, and there are great mandolin instructors there both weeks. It's a very guitar-centric, but there are always plenty of 8-string players, too, and workshop/band/jam/performance opportunities in all manner of styles. I had the pleasure of teaching there on a few occasions, and my wife and I first hooked up after a late-night jam there 13 years ago.

[Topher Gayle]

I've been going to CCMC nearly every year since about 2001. The last few years I've also been teaching there (though not this year, as it happens). I look forward to camp all year.

It is a great camp! For me, one of the most important things that came from this camp was the ability to hook up with many like-minded folks, so we could continue to make music during the 51 weeks of the year we're not at camp. Camp has enabled me to become a better musician, sure; but more importantly, I've had lots more musical fun in life, thanks to new contacts and experiences at camp.

[cableguy]

California Coast Music Camp is far more than a place to learn and play music. For me it’s been a source of many life changing moments. While most initially come for the music, after 11 years, I come to reminisce with old friends, many that have become lifelong friends. It’s an addition that you won’t want to kick. Glenn Lawrence

[tracya]

I was there in week-2 of 2007. Met and made quite few friends, among which were Jayme and Topher. Jayme later described Topher as "a musical swiss-army knife" in one of her concert announcements that featured either his mandolin or bouzuki. At CCMC I jammed with both. The jamming started about ten minutes after I got on the bus in Los Gatos and continued for a week including at least two all-nighters at the firepit including a group of who looked at the sacrament of jam as more important than sleep.

While it is true that I have not been to camp since then, I knew it would take a while to digest the huge and diverse input of ideas and styles that I had been exposed to; in the meantime I have a real job (various guitar cases had a bumper sticker that said "REAL musicians have day jobs") which pays the bills and distracts from music, but I have been to most of the reunions and also kicked in a few bucks for various CCMC related causes including funding for a project by one of my teachers, and attendance at various events by both teachers and students.

CCMC moved from Camp Gualala (in Sonoma county) to a new camp in the Sierra Foothills of East California in the meantime. I have heard and seen various postings about the advantages of flatter ground and ongoing efforts to add features and amenities. Eventually I will go back, there is no question about that. And as before I will be like a kid in a candy store, stymied at times to just make up my mind what to attend at what kinds of techniques to try and so forth.

And I am connected to a live and vibrant virtual community of mostly Bay Area pro- and amateur musicians whose taste and creativity and warmth continue to impress me, and on top of that I have become much more familiar with the prominence of some of the names that I had met informally and jammed with but realized later were major figures in Bay Area music. Ed, Christina, and Jennifer, you know who you are. To those I remain sincerely beholden.

Tracy
at large

[Mandolincelli]

I've gone to the CCMC camp but mostly go to their winter retreat. I just wanted to add my recommendation of CCMC, not just because of the teachers but because the participants are so much fun. It's a great, supportive atmosphere. Can hardly think of a better vacation a musician can give themselves.

Ken

[Jill McAuley]

Would love to go to this but alas the chances of getting time off from my job are pretty much nil - any folks who play or are wanting to learn how to play Irish/Celtic style on the mandolin would be hard pressed to find a better teacher than Marla Fibish! Looking forward to reading folks reporting back on what the camp was like.

Cheers,
Jill

[Topher Gayle]

Here it is several months later, and I guess it's time to report in, as requested, Jill!

I was there week two, and it was my pleasure to meet Marla then. A sweet, generous gal, a loved teacher, and a fabulous player. There were several mandolin-playing students on hand (including me!) and we all had plenty to do. There were many organized and also informal jams in many styles and speeds every day, concerts and/or dances at night. Informal coffee-house venue twice that week, too.

Part of the fun is "instrument tasting" - basically you're playing along with folks and then you say, "what a nice mandolin you have," and odds are really good that in a moment it will be thrust into your hands for a test drive. Really fun! That must have happened a dozen times to me during the week.

Well, I had the chance to play my funny songs at a couple of places during the week, accompanied by friends, and I acompanied them a couple of times also.

As I said before, I love music camps - this is a great one!