Camp Cost
$175
All-inclusive:
Room, board and workshops, from Sunday noon through Wednesday noon.
$125
Jam
Camp: Includes room, board and evening activities. No workshops.
$75
Day
rate: Includes meals and workshops on Monday or Tuesday.
$25
Sunday rate: includes dinner
and all activities on Sunday.
$15
Evening
dinner for non-camping family member.
Children under 4 yrs are
free. Family and band discounts are available.
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In a Band?
Consider
signing up for the Master Class:
an opportunity for performing musicians who come to Camp Kiya as
participants to be mentored by Jamie Laval and Joe Craven in arranging,
accompaniment, stage presence, and Michael Gutin on contra dance bands!
Call Deborah Hand at Mountain Music (661-823-9994) to learn
about band registration discounts.
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A Day at Camp Kiya
Wake
up, hit the showers. Get to the mess hall. Smells terrific - that's
because the kitchen team is using local produce and organic ingredients
to cook up some of the best-tasting meals (veg and non-veg) you've ever
had.
Choose your first morning workshop -- that's a hard one!
There's five to pick from!
You get into a conversation with some
others who are pouring their second cup of coffee.
The
conversation continues as the group of you meander down the trail to a
clearing behind the cabins. A dozen chairs are in a circle. You duck
into your cabin and grab your guitar. You're nervous because it's the
first time you've actually played it in front of anyone since high
school.
Two hours later, you're chuckling to yourself -- and
checking the location for the next guitar workshop.
Lunch sneaks
up on you. There's another great meal waiting, with fresh baked cookies
for dessert. You grab a couple extra and head up the hill to the first
afternoon workshop. But then, local nature guru, Jon Hammond, saunters
by, followed by a group of hikers. It's too good to pass up...
You
hear the music before you see the group playing it. There's still a
half hour before dinner, but the jam that's sprung up next to the mess
hall has made everyone oblivious. Someone calls out to you, "Hey! Grab
your guitar!"
It's after dinner, and the band is setting up in
the mess hall. Everyone helps move table and chairs. The contra dance
caller starts out easy and gradually introduces more complex steps. The
music is infectious. You jump up.
There's a break for ice cream
sundaes (delicious and non-organic) and then it's back to more dancing.
it's
late. You head to your cabin with every intention of turning in, but
there's a bonfire in the fire pit, and a group of people jamming nearby.
You grab your sweatshirt and come back out to listen.
You look
up. There's a billion stars canopied above you. You stuff your hands in
your pockets and find half of a cookie from lunch. Sweet.
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Scholarships are available.
There
are scholarships available to attend Camp Kiya, thanks to the Kern
Scottish Society. Contact the Society at kernscot@gmail.com to apply.
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Mid-July.
Imagine it: Long stretches of triple-digit weather in the Central
Valley. In the LA Basin, the combination of smog and humidity is making
everyone go slightly nuts. But in the Tehachapi Mountains, the air is
clear, daytime temps are in the 80s, and at night you're throwing on a
sweatshirt.
Whether you're a musician or a music enthusiast,
eight or 108, or just plain sick of the heat, consider Camp Kiya this year. Affordable and
fun, Camp Kiya is a great way to explore a new instrument, improve your
playing on the instrument you already have, and meet others who are
doing the same. For non-instrumentalists, there's dancing, hiking and
workshops on native folklore, as well as the chance to relax among the
pines with a good book.
Starting Sunday noon, July 25, and going
through Wednesday noon, July 28, Camp Kiya is featuring some of the most
respected names in the traditional music community - musicians as
well-known for their teaching as they are for their playing.
Places
are still available, but they're going fast. Call Deborah Hand at Mountain Music/Fiddler's Crossing
(661-823-9994) or download an application form from the Arts Council of
Kern Web site.
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Learning in the "trad" way
 For hundreds of
years, before sheet music existed, music has been passed down aurally,
with master musicians playing the tunes slowly and repetitively so that
others could absorb it.
"I came last year with some ability to
read music - but it had been too long. I couldn't remember anything,"
admitted Lisa Stroud. "And that was in flute!"
At Kiya, Lisa
decided to try the fiddle. She brought one that she'd picked up at a
yard sale, and sat in on workshops with Jan Tappan and Jamie Laval. "I
was impressed that these professional people would sit there and take
the time with all these beginners. Even if you couldn't get the whole
thing. They worked with us bar at a time. They wanted us to learn this. They were so encouraging - they
didn't expect you to be picking things up really quick."
Camp Kiya is committed to keeping the trad approach to learning
music alive (okay... there will be some sheet music floating
around...!). Instruction will be given in different styles of
fiddle playing, as well as cello, guitar, ukulele, harmonica,
bodhran,
whistle and Mountain Dulcimer. Improvisation, how to play
back-up and
dancing will also be offered again. Additions for this year will
be
mandolin and accordion.
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The Artist Line-up
 Camp Kiya features some of the
nation's finest traditional music masters, as well as professional
musicians based right here in Kern County.
RETURNING THIS YEAR
Jamie
Laval is a classically trained (!), professionally touring
fiddler based out of Ashville, NC, and a favorite teacher as such
esteemed music camps as Swannanoah.
 A favorite with music educators, Joe Craven is based out of the Davis,
CA area and equally fluent in fiddle, mandolin and percussion. He's
also known for his delightfully wacky MC skills in festivals such as
Live Oak and Strawberry.  Multi-instrumentalist
Zac Leger may have an address
in the LA area, but he spends most of his time on the road performing
with Celtic greats such as Eileen Ivers and Jamie Laval, and bands such
as Immigrant Soul and Ireland-based Crossroads. Zac plays - and teaches -
guitar (DADGAD and drop-D), uilleann pipes, flute and bouzouki.
Michael Gutin is probably best
known for his superb contra dance accordion-playing in the Santa
Barbara-based band, The Chameleons, and the Pasadena-based band, Mixed
Nuts. He's a human jukebox of dance tunes, which he will be sharing with
great humor and aplomb. 
Jan Tappan
is the music director of the famed LA Scottish Fiddlers, and a great
resource in approaching the unique rhythms and bowing styles of Scottish
dance tunes. Her class, "Learning Fiddling from Scratch," was one of
Kiya's most popular last year.  LA-based
actor and prize-winning Irish step-dancer Aria Curzon is returning to Camp Kiya to once again offer
beginning workshops in step-dancing.
Also
from the region --Cellist
Alex Wilson has studied with
Natalie Haas at Valley of the Moon. He plays classically with the
Bakersfield Symphony and other groups, and alternative and Celtic cello
styles in a duo with fellow cellist Erin Esse. He will teach tunes as
well as backup styles for traditional music. Lessons in:
Fiddle,
mandolin, guitar, accordion, penny whistle, harmonica, mountain
dulcimer, percussion, piano, flute, ukulele, bass |
Camp Kiya Acorns 
Music for
the Young Musician
For 5- and 6-year-olds and mature 4-year-olds, there is a
special "day camp" opportunity to experience Camp Kiya geared to
their age group. The "Acorn"
program will be held Monday and Tuesday, July 26 and 27, from 10:00 a.m.
to
3:00 p.m. Each child must have a parent in attendance, and younger
siblings and babies are welcome to come along. We will dedicate one
cabin to this group for naps, nursing,
and gathering.
PROGRAM
Arrive: 10:00
Fiddle
class: 10:15-10:45
Break (healthy snacks provided)
Singing class: 11:00-11:30
Lunch
Nature walk: 1:00-1:30
Fiddle Class: 1:40-2:10
Break
(healthy snacks provided)
Percussion with Joe Craven: 2:30-3:00
Cost: $100 per child and 1
parent. Each additional child from 4-6 years old will be $50.00.
Younger
siblings (4 and under) not participating in the program are welcome to
come for
free.
Limit: 10
parents and their children.
Call Deborah Hand (661-823-9994) to
register.
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Sponsored by
Kern County
Parks and Recreation
and the
Arts Council of Kern
 
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a traditional music
camp