Jam Camp students prepare songs on piano and guitar and harmonize vocally to perform at local venues in Loveland and Fort Collins area.
Piano, guitar, and voice students collaborate to perform at different venues locally. The goal is to give them an opportunity to work with a different style than what they may be used to. It also gives them a stepping stone into the gigging world so that they don’t have to have a two hour set fully prepared. This year, we had five girls who brought their unique skills together. We were able to create songs by combining their piano, voice and guitar skills.
Another goal for jam camp is take ideas from students individual piano lessons or guitar lessons. This could be a solo song that they may have already worked on. Then they get the chance to bring this prepared song to a group to add more ideas to it.
We also use the camp to teach the process and preparation it takes to get to the performance. Sometimes this process can feel like work. However, this year’s jam camp had great comradery so that practices felt very casual. Most of the girls either knew each other or enjoyed getting to know each other. Therefore, practice was always filled with laughter and stories. Luckily we had the time this year to really build the relationships during this preparation time. As a result, this helped the students connect while performing as well. I think you will see that the videos below show off their individual skills with their voice as well as their piano or guitar.
Our piano and vocal trio was Cassia Swanty and Rose Houston singing ‘Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying’ by Sabrina Carpenter. I accompanied them on this one so that they could focus on their vocal harmonies and voice blending. We liked how this song brought in an upbeat vibe and a well-known tune for our audience.
Here is an example of one of the solo songs that Alex Swanty performed. This was a selection that she had been working on that we wanted her to perform again for the experience at a different venue. I know that she can attest to the fact that no matter how many times you perform a song; it feels different each time! Here’s a selection of her performance with her guitar at the Bean Cycle in Fort Collins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG-3Nr8yPBM
‘All I Ask’ is a song by Adele that Hanna Hunter had been working on as a solo. She does not currently play an instrument (maybe later!?). Therefore, jam camp really helped her find new opportunities to work with instrumentalists and sing the songs that would otherwise need a karaoke track. Jade is playing the piano on this song and singing the harmonies. This particular performance we forgot to set up her microphone (oops!). However, you can still hear her since she realized once the song started she would have to sing louder. That’s what this experience is all about – being flexible!
These clips are just a small example of the hard work each student put into making the jam camp music event a success. We loved having all of their talent and creating all of the memories!