There is a new Jazz Camp for Teens at the Rotary Centre for the Arts (RCA).
Led by professional jazz musicians Craig Thomson, Nick Dyson and Joe Auty, the five-day camp is designed to help musicians develop their creativity by improvising several styles of music including the blues, rhythm and blues soul-funk and popular jazz standards.
“The Okanagan needs more opportunities for youth to play jazz and learn from some of BC’s best music teachers,” said Andrew Stauffer, the community and educational programming specialist.
“As a jazz fan, I want to make sure musicians have the opportunity to hone their skills and expand what they can do as jazz players.”
Participants age 12 years old and up will be coached on refining their technique within instrument-specific classes.
Students will be able to watch their instructors perform with other local professionals as well as perform their own concert at the Mary Irwin Theatre at the end of the camp.
The RCA Jazz Camp, which is sponsored by Yamaha, will run from August 14-18.
Stauffer added: “Each registrant will have five days to focus on jazz and only jazz.”
This camp comes in addition to RCA’s Arts Blast summer camps for children ages five to 10.
Each Arts Blast camp features a specific theme and expert artist-instructors.
Angela Roy will teach music, Brock Gratz will teach drama and Marissa Thomson will teach dance.
Some of the themes include superheroes, animal planet, dinosaurs and deep sea adventure.
Arts Blast camps are funded by the Province of BC Community Gaming Grant.
More information can be found here.
*Thumbnail image courtesy of Canva.
