We had an incredible time during our Teen and Youth Get Together camps this summer!
We kicked off with our Teen Get Together Week — we were joined by a group of talented teen musicians from around the country. Under the direction of our teaching team, these students learned about the rich musical history and traditions of Floyd and surrounding areas. They learned a variety of new tunes, had fun square dancing, flatfoot dancing, and singing, and created their own handmade camp shirts.
Several special guests joined our teaching team to enrich the week, including Elsa Howell, who taught a workshop on Southwest VA ballad singing and assisted the group in making a Crankie Box for the ballad “Jack, He Went a Sailing”. This project highlights numerous elements of the Handmade Music School mission, including the combination of music, art, and heritage in a community project that allows students multiple ways to engage with the music and history of Southwest VA. Stay tuned for a video of this project — it’s excellent!
We wrapped up the week with TWO performances: our teen musicians opened the Small Town Summer event on July 3rd, and performed on the stage at the Floyd Country Store’s Friday Night Jamboree on July 4th. It was so wonderful to see these musicians come together to form a community throughout their week together, and to be able to share that through these performances! We can’t wait to see what these teens do next!
Our Youth Get Together Week was also phenomenal – we were joined by almost 50 musicians ages 7-13, and we had a blast! These students spent time learning new tunes on their instruments, jamming together, enjoyed numerous art activities, did lots of dancing, and made their own handmade camp shirts! Our core teachers did a fantastic job teaching numerous new tunes, including “Boil Them Cabbage Down” and “Baby-O”.
Additionally, students learned about ballads, and made their own Crankie Box project about the ballad “Devil’s 9 Questions,” one of the many ballads made popular by Texas Gladden of Salem, Virginia. Our friends Hanna Traynham and Kelley Breiding also joined us for singing activities, and Tim Thornton visited to introduce the students to the mountain dulcimer!
This group concluded their camp week with a full camp jam, and we cannot wait to do this again next summer!
Check out the awesome handmade shirts we made! Each camp group made their own shirts, from screen printing to tie dying! We love how unique each one is, and the students had a great time throughout this creation process.
