From June 10-15, the Seattle Circle Guitar School presented a daily workshop at Billings Middle School in Seattle. The class was part of a summer program at Billings, which provides activities for children over the break. We were invited to create this program by one of the organizers of the summer session, who was aware of our work from a class Curt had led there during the 2010 school year.
Areas of focus were: circulation, learning a song, composing music together, teaching each other music, working in small and large groups, chord work for those who wished, listening to music, preparing and restoring the space, improvising together, and recording. Along with this, there were opportunities to take constructive breaks, and to reflect on and recapitulate the experience. Every part of the program was intended to provide an opportunity for experience and insight into being a musician and the act of musicking, including the parts we improvised, the snacks, and the breaks.
The success of the camp has also led us to consider an alternative model for going into the public schools. In addition to offering an extended period of one-hour-per-week sessions over a number of weeks, we can offer to go into a classroom for one week, 2 hours a day for example.
And above all, we had some fun!
The "band photo" on the final day of the camp
