Hello BeatNest families!
We just finished what was our most exciting summer yet with three unique weeks of back to back camps!
With around 30 kids coming through in total, every week was completely full and packed with amazing groups of awesome, creative kids.
Week one was the return of our summer Spin Club series, where students learned the ins and outs of professional DJ sets and equipment. We had some brand new faces and some returning, and each DJ was able to accomplish something amazing by the end of the week.
Coincidentally, the last day of camp, landed on First Fridays in downtown Pittsfield! As such, we were allowed to take over the courtyard in Dunham Mall for three hours, make lots of noise and play music for the community!
Shoutout to DJ Ruffles de Chip for overcoming her performance anxiety and playing an amazing set for lots of happy kids and families!
Week 2 was our ever-so-popular Pop Star Studio week! During this camp, students become songwriters and music producers, learning the inner workings of what makes a great pop song and how they are created behind the scenes.
There was a waitlist for this camp, so I decided to let in two extra kids, making the camp 12 instead of our usual 10 (because I couldn’t NOT let in the next potential Sabrina Carpenter).
On the first day of this camp we had a very special guest, dolltr!ck, my old friend from my Berklee days who has gone on to have a very successful songwriting career, writing for various Kpop projects and working with well respected music tech brands like Ableton and Roland. She taught the kids in depth about lyric writing and pop song production. The kids loved it and were already asking to have her come back to teach!
We also had another exciting workshop happen during this week: A representative from Musical Beings came in for an after-camp session to show the kids their new musical instrument, Tembo.
This is a sequencer and sampler for making drum beats on a wooden box using magnetic pieces to craft your sound. The kids who attended had a blast creating beats, sampling and just experimenting with this new instrument. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for it’s official release as it has not even hit stores yet!
Finally, week 3 was Stage Ready, where students designed a unique live electronic music experience! This was a very unique week, because for the first time we had guest instructor, Hayley Carloni, who is a VJ and stage designer spend all day with the kids, teaching them about live video performance!
It was so exciting to have Hayley come all the way from Brooklyn to share her professional expertise with our students. As a touring VJ who works with professional music venues such as Red Rocks in Colorado, it was so special that she was able to take time out of her schedule to come educate and inspire our campers.
She made such an impact with our campers that one parent wrote me a personal message thanking me for bringing her in and inspiring her daughter’s confidence. ❤️
Students learned how to prepare and perform an effective visual performance along with their music that they created during the week. Many kids formed a DJ/VJ pair where one was responsible for the music and the other was responsible for the visual performance. It made for some amazing A/V experiences on the last day of camp!
Lastly, this is your reminder to register your child for our fall class session! Spots are filling up so don’t wait to register!
This season, we are offering five unique group classes:
Spin Club: Our entry level DJ course, which is perfect for those who have never touch DJ equipment in their life, to kids who are familiar with DJing but prefer a more relaxed paced learning environment.
The Drop Squad: This is the kids DJ course that is for students who are confident in their DJ skills and want to seriously level up while taking various gig opportunities in the community. Our Drop Squad students have played venues such as Dotties Coffee Lounge, Wander, First Fridays, The Lenox Apple Squeeze and more!
Songwriter’s Collective Foundations: This is our entry level songwriting course designed for kids new to songwriting and BeatNest or the casual songwriter and producer who is comfortable working in slower paced classes.
Songwriter’s Collective Advanced: This class is for kids who have completed at least one level of songwriting and wants a bigger challenge. This course will focus more heavily on music production skills and creating unique tracks for students’ songs.
Teen Producer Academy: This is our brand new music production class geared towards students 13 – 17. We will focus on creating music tracks from start to finish with Ableton Live and discovering your child’s unique voice in the process. They do not not need to have experience with music to join this class, just a creative spirit and a love to create!
Visit the link HERE to register for more information and I hope to see your awesome creative kids there!
– Geoffrey
