Have you heard about the A B C EXTRA DAY? Are you looking for a June event on the East Coast? Vist the NE Heritage Music Camp web page!

Fort Flagler, Washington
Friday, Sept. 10 -- Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010
NEW! ==>   Thursday, Sept. 9 -- Friday, Sept. 10, 2010   <== ( Extra Day )

Directors: Peter Langston & Ken Perlman

Spend a weekend away from the toil and cares of everyday life, with nothing to do but learn about the 5-string banjo from world-famous teachers, play in jams, eat delicious food, and possibly even sleep!

The American Banjo Camp takes place on the first weekend after Labor Day each year at a spectacularly scenic converted fort on the Puget Sound.. ABC is a camp for adults from 18 to 118. There you can study old-time or bluegrass banjo with world-class instructors. The full schedule is packed with hands-on classes and demonstrations as well as a faculty concert and dozens of jamming opportunities.

Quotes, Reviews, & Testimonials from previous years: Our attendees are not shy about saying what they liked and didn't like (let's face it, they're banjo players). We have both short flattering comments about American Banjo Camp and longer flattering testimonials about American Banjo Camp .

Info from ABC 2009 - September 11-13, 2009
Info from ABC 2008 - September 5-7, 2008
Info from ABC 2007 - September 7-9, 2007
Info from ABC 2006 - September 8-10, 2006
Info from ABC 2005 - September 9-11, 2005
Info from ABC 2004 - September 10-12, 2004
Info from the first ABC - September 5-7, 2003

Hands-On: In the tradition of the Tennessee Banjo Institute and the Maryland Banjo Academy, our camp is committed to offering highly specialized classes tailored to the expertise of our faculty. Here are examples of hands-on classes that have been taught at the American Banjo Camp:

Demonstrations: These are round robin events akin to folk and bluegrass festival workshops, where various artists offer samples of their playing and address a common theme. Here are some examples:

· Old-time finger picking styles · Traditional tunings · Fretless banjo · Banjo-fiddle duets · Bluegrass Back-up

· Tuners & Techniques · Improvisation · Three-finger Single-string style · Scruggs style Singing with the Banjo · Fiddle Tunes on Banjo

Jamming: We provide areas for slow and up-to-speed jams in both bluegrass and old time genres, and faculty members will be assigned to help these "official" jams get started on the right track. Of course, the tunes played will be whatever the jammers want to play, but to help newcomers get started, we've compiled a list of tunes that, in our experience, have come up often at jams. Here's our list of common jam tunes, but remember, your mileage may vary! To make these jams even more satisfying, we've taken pains to ensure that there will be fiddlers, guitarists and players of other instruments on hand to join in.

Levels: We offer banjo classes at four levels from beginner through lower and upper intermediate to advanced. While some classes have a broad topical focus and a very specific level ("Basic Fiddle Tune Back-up" or "Advanced Chromatic Soloing") other classes address a specific aspect of banjo playing useful at all levels of play ("Tuning the Banjo -- Theory & Practice" or "Learning Tunes by Ear"). The attendee's answers to the questions on the registration form about playing level, jamming experience, and so forth, are used to help plan the number and levels of classes. This means that the earlier you register the more the program will be tweaked to suit your needs.

Beginners: We feature a series of classes and jam sessions specifically designed for newcomers to the instrument, taught by our regular instructors and by our beginners' specialists in both Old-Time and Bluegrass. We also firmly believe that merely having the opportunity to hear and observe world-renowned masters at close quarters provides sufficient inspiration to keep beginners firmly committed to progressing on the instrument for months or even years to come!

Lower Intermediate: Our lower intermediate track is for students who are beyond the novice stage but still need a lot of technical help on a variety of fronts -- such as efficient left hand and right hand techniques, building up speed and power, achieving good timing, basic song and tune arranging, and so on. Estimated playing experience required: 6 months to 2 years.

Upper Intermediate: The upper intermediate track is for students who can play pretty well at a basic level, but are looking to expand their horizons and increase their repertoires and playing efficiency. It is also designed to help your playing sound more "authentic" and professional. Estimated playing experience required: 18 months to 3 years.

Advanced: The advanced track is for those who can already play up to (or close to) speed, but who are looking to grow further as musicians through learning from some of the world's best players. Estimated playing experience required: 3-4 years and up.

Schedule: For the regular camp we'll have classes and demonstrations Friday afternoon, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning. In addition, we'll have short faculty concerts on both Friday and Saturday nights, followed by jams, a light snack (for energy), and more jams. Here's a link to the American Banjo Camp regular schedule. See below for information about the "Extra Day" Schedule.

	Last Year's Class Schedule

The Extra Day: Over the years we have gotten quite a number of requests from students to extend the length of the camp. Taking note that a relatively high percentage of our staff and out-of-town students travel to Seattle on the day before Camp anyway, we have decided to add an optional "Extra Day" to the proceedings.

The Extra Day starts Thursday afternoon and includes Thursday dinner, Friday breakfast, and Friday lunch. It gives students a chance to get to know each other and the staff, and to ease their way into the regular Camp, with a full day of student activities in a relaxed atmosphere. The Extra Day activities include a student concert and a dance in addition to faculty-led jams and demos.

Fiddle Program: This year we will offer a full-time fiddle program, led by renowned old-time fiddler Greg Canote and supported by old-time fiddlers Brad Leftwich and Adam Hurt, and by bluegrass specialist Paul Elliott. For details, contact us or check our preliminary schedule when it comes out (mid-winter, 2010).

For information on camp beginning and ending times see the Travel Timing section below.

Accommodations: Lodging is right on site in dormitories converted from Naval Barracks. The dorms are not luxurious, but have modern conveniences. It is also possible to stay at a nearby camping area (see below). All attendees are included in the meal plan irrespective of sleeping arrangement.

Camping: Tent, trailer, and RV camping is available at Fort Flagler, and at other local Washington State Parks, such as Fort Worden and Old Fort Townsend. The 2008 price was $19 per night without electrical hookups, and $25 per night with hookups. Up to eight people are allowed per campsite at that price. Reservations may be made up to nine months ahead at any Washington state park by calling 1-888-CAMPOUT. A complete list of parks is available at www.parks.wa.gov. All these campsites fill up fast so it is recommended that you place reservations as early as possible. There are also other camping options in the area; this search will give you information on many of them.

RV Camping: If you want to bring your RV and there are no available campgrounds at Flagler, there are a number of RV parks in the area. For instance, Smitty's RV Park, just down the road from us, has hookups; they tell us that for weekends after Labor Day they don't tend to fill up until the last couple of weeks. The 2008 price was $25 per night including tax. Their phone number is 360-385-2165. For a list of neighboring RV parks you might try this search.

Motels/Hotels/Bed-and-Breakfast: There are motels in nearby Hadlock, and quaint Port Townsend (15 minutes to the north) has numerous bed-and-breakfast establishments as well as hotels and motels. This search will show many of them.

ABC does not offer discounts to attendees who stay off-site. The State Park charges ABC a use-fee for each participant, regardless of whether or not s/he stays overnight. Consequently, it still costs us for attendees who stay off-site. In any event, teacher salaries, teacher transportation, catering, and fixed site costs account for almost all of our expenses.

Board: Judith Weinstock (past owner of the Kingston Hotel Cafe and the Streamliner Diner, cookbook author, and member of the culinary arts faculty at West Sound Academy) will provide both vegetarian and omnivore meals in the camp dining hall. The standard package includes dinner on Friday through breakfast and lunch on Sunday. The Extra Day package includes dinner on Thursday and breakfast and lunch on Friday.

Location: We're located at Fort Flagler, a beautiful setting right on Puget Sound near Port Townsend, Washington. Early September is often blessed with glorious weather in the northwest, and classes can be held indoors or outdoors, depending on weather conditions. We're only 40 miles across the Sound from downtown Seattle, but the environs here on the Olympic Peninsula are quite sylvan and picturesque. See "Travel logistics" (below) for directions. Click here for general information on Fort Flagler State Park.

Handicap Accessibility: Our site ("Camp Hoskins") is partly wheelchair accessible. The worst stumbing block (sorry) is that many of the classroom buildings have a single step going from the outside to the inside. The various buildings (classrooms, dorms, theater, dining hall, etc.) are not very spread out; in the worst case two classes might be as much as 300 yards apart over grass or paved walks.

Washington state provides an Accessible Outdoor Recreation Guide available here that at least tells you who may be able to answer accessibility questions in more detail.

Maps: Various maps of the area are available (you may have to zoom in or out to get a convenient scale):
· Yahoo Map of Fort Flagler, WA
· Google Map of Fort Flagler, WA
· Sattelite Image Map of Fort Flagler, WA
· Topographic Map of Fort Flagler, WA

MySpace: Are you on MySpace? If you are, why not visit our MySpace page at www.myspace.com/AmericanBanjoCamp and befriend us?

Travel logistics: Fort Flagler State Park is located eight miles northeast of Hadlock (Port Hadlock), Wash., on the northern tip of Marrowstone Island. The nearest placename likely to be recognized by on-line mapping programs is Nordland, WA (about 1/4 mile south of Ft. Flagler). The latitude and longitude of the camp is: 48.09796N, 122.69368W (useful for some mapping programs).
+ Most WWW map services also provide step-by-step driving directions between any two points. For instance, see the Yahoo and Google map links given above under Maps.

Driving Directions Here's a link to American Banjo Camp driving directions. Routes are given from:
+ Mt. Vernon, Bellingham, Vancouver, BC, and points North
+ Port Townsend
+ Edmonds and North Seattle
+ Seattle
+ SeaTac Airport
+ Tacoma and South Seattle
+ the Hood Canal Bridge
+ Olympia, Portland, and points south

Rides/Carpooling: Our site coordinator can help arrange rides and carpooling from the airport. Please let us know if you you would like to carpool or if you live near the airport and could give another attendee a ride. If you're planning on renting a car at the airport, you might consider defraying the expense by taking a few banjo picking riders...
Limo Service: As a last resort, there's a limo service that can go from SeaTac right to the Fort, (Pacific Transit).

Travel Timing:

Thursday: Attendees coming for the Extra Day can arrive anytime after 3:00 p.m. on Thursday. If you're driving from Seattle you should leave about two and a half hours for the drive; leaving between 12:30 and 3:00 p.m. ought to get you to camp before dinner. If you're flying, you should plan on arriving at SeaTac airport by 2:00 p.m. at the latest.

Friday: Registration starts at 12:00 noon on Friday (not before!), student orientation will be c. 2:00 p.m., and the first class is scheduled at 3:00, so you should try to arrive at Camp between noon and 1:30 p.m. to register, get set up in your dorm space, and be ready for the start of events. If you're flying, plan on arriving at SeaTac airport by 10:00 a.m. on Friday at the latest.

Sunday: The last class ends a little before 3:00 p.m. on Sunday and we need to be out of Fort Flagler by 3:30.. If you're flying and don't want to miss anything, and need to allow 90 minutes for getting through SeaTac check-in and security, make sure to schedule your return flight for no earlier than 6:30 p.m.

Directors
	Co-director Ken Perlman has served as music director for several banjo teaching festivals, including the Maryland Banjo Academy, Banjo Camp North, the Bath Banjo Festival, Midwest Banjo Camp, and Swannee Banjo Camp. He is also on the old-time staff for the American Banjo Camp, specializing in melodic clawhammer banjo. You can find a complete biography for Ken with the instructor and accompanist bios: Ken Perlman bio.
	Co-director Peter Langston is one of two coordinators who direct the venerable Puget Sound Guitar Workshop. He grew up in the urban "folk scare" of the 50s and 60s and has played bluegrass and old-time music on a range of instruments for almost 50 years. Peter is a frequent teacher/musician at music and dance camps -- at ABC he plays guitar, mandolin, and dobro. You can find a complete biography for him with the instructor and accompanist bios: Peter Langston bio.
On-Site Coordinator
	On-site Coordinator Janet Peterson lives in Bellingham, Washington, and is a sign language interpreter for the deaf and deaf/blind. She is a founding member of the band Motherlode in which she plays cello and guitar and sings, (but never plays the banjo). Janet is one of the year-round Coordinators for the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, as well as being the on-site coordinator for the American Banjo Camp.

Important Info for Attendees: Shortly before camp each year we send out email messages to all attendees with invaluable information about camp ranging from travel tips to reminders about essential items to bring (e.g. a banjo, a flashlight, bedding, etc.) to explanations of the class schedule.. Click HERE to see information culled from recent messages on what to bring, where to go, when to arrive, how to read the schedule, and so forth.

Ages: American Banjo Camp is designed for adults, and we know that adults come in a wide range of ages. Youngsters under 18 who are serious banjo players may attend ABC if accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Contact us by email to make arrangements.

Registration: To attend the American Banjo Camp you must preregister. Space is allotted on a first-come, first-served basis. To register, print out the registration form, fill it in, and send it with payment to the address indicated. Alternatively, you can use a text editor to edit a copy of the registration form and email it to us along with credit card information.
You can send the full amount at any time, but you can hold your place until July 1st with a deposit of $100. Full payment is required after July 1st. Make payment out to "American Banjo Camp."
You can find other helpful registration information on the Registration Notes page.

Tuition:

$420 covers tuition, room, & board for the weekend from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.
$120 covers the Extra Day from Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon.
All tuition cost figures are per person and are in US dollars. We cannot take payments in any foreign currency via check; foreign checks are acceptable only if payment is in US dollars.
The registration form gives further details.

T-shirts: We have designed a special commemorative ABC 2010 T-shirt which you can only get by preordering it when you register. To get in on the preorder you must register before August 15th. The T-shirts will cost $10 for all sizes up to and including XL. XXL and larger will cost $12. Such a deal! The T-shirts are short-sleeved. We can get long-sleeve T-shirts, but they cost a little more; send an extra $3 each for long-sleeve.
You can also get a "regular" (more expensive) ABC T-shirt through the American Banjo Camp on-line store anytime.

Refunds: If camp is full we can place your name on the waiting list. If for any reason we can't fit you into camp, or you don't want to go on the waiting list, your entire payment will be returned to you. If you get into camp but then cancel before July 1st, all but $50 will be returned. If you cancel after July 1st, all but $100 will be returned. Cancellations after camp starts, or no-shows, get no refund.

On-line & Email Registration: We have no provision for paying on-line (maybe next year), but if you intend to pay by credit card, you can register by email. To do that, display the registration form; use cut-and-paste to copy it into your text editor (e.g. NotePad, Emacs, or SimpleEdit); and then edit your answers into the form. Answer everything EXCEPT the question about your credit card number; go ahead and include the expiration date, but not the number. E-mail the edited registration form to <Registration@AmericanBanjoCamp.com> with a Subject line of "American Banjo Camp registration". Then, send a separate email message to <Registration@AmericanBanjoCamp.com> containing just your credit card number with no other explanation (we'll figure it out). That's all there is to it!

Of course, if you paid by credit card last year and your credit card number has not changed, you can just say "Same as last year" in place of the number.

Gift Registrations: If you want to give a session of banjo camp as a gift for Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, a special birthday, Father's Day, Mother's Day, National Talk Like A Pirate Day, or even April Fool's Day, and you'd like to surprise the recipient, you can send us the payment with a minimally filled-out registration form showing the recipient's name and address as well as your email address and phone number, and a note saying it's to be a surprise. We'll reserve a place at camp and keep the secret until the time you've specified, at which point we'll collect the other registration information.

Email Problems: If you're having trouble with email to AmericanBanjoCamp.com bouncing back to you, please send a copy of the bounce message (with all the headers left intact) to psl@acm.org and we'll get it working again.

Peter sends an email acknowledgement whenever he receives a registration or a payment, and he's usually pretty quick (but not always, see below). If you don't get an acknowledgement after a reasonable amount of time, something may have gone wrong; check that you're able to receive email from him (it usually comes from psl@acm.org).

Note that both Ken & Peter are on the road a lot in July & August, so they may be slow in answering, but email will get to them.

IMPORTANT! If you're using a "whitelist" or a list of approved senders to block unwanted email (aka spam), be sure to add both psl@acm.org and KenPerlman@aol.com to your list, otherwise you won't be able to receive acknowledgements for payments, directions to camp, or answers to your questions by email.

ABC Flyer: You can print out your own copies of the black-and-white ABC Flyer (~700KB) to give to friends, to pass out at a jam, or to leave at a local music store. Help us get the word out -- the more the merrier! Set the orientation to Landscape. Set the margins to 0.5 inch. (To set print orientation and margins in most versions of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Netscape, click on "Page Setup..." in the "File" menu.)

ABC Poster: We have a letter-size (8.5" x 11") ABC 2010 poster (~250KB) that you can print out and post anywhere that other musicians might see it - a local music store, a dance, a neighborhood bulletin board, etc. For this poster you should set the orientation to Portrait, set the print margins to 0.75", and enable Fit To Page, if you have it. (To set print margins and Orientation in most versions of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Netscape, click on "Page Setup..." in the "File" menu.)

Silly Promotional Products Department . . . and more! Sublime Promotional Products Department Concert CDs CAT-109 contains all the tunes and songs performed at the ABC2003 staff Concert on 9/6/03 (the first American Banjo Camp) by: Peter Schwimmer, Brad Leftwich, Bill Evans, Mac Benford, Bill Keith, Ken Perlman, and others. CAT-110 contains all the tunes and songs performed at the ABC2004 staff Concert on 9/11/04 by: Danny Barnes, Mac Benford, Janet Davis, Bill Evans, Bill Keith, Brad Leftwich, Ken Perlman, Mike Seeger, and others. CAT-112 contains twenty-six tunes and songs performed at the ABC2005 staff Concert on 9/10/05 by: Eddie Adcock, Danny Barnes, Laura Boosinger, Paul Brown, Clarke Buehling, Janet Davis, Bill Evans, Bill Keith, Brad Leftwich, Ned Luberecki, Michael Miles, Ken Perlman, and others. CAT-113 contains tunes and songs performed at the ABC2006 staff Concerts on 9/8/06 and 9/9/06 by: Mac Benford, Janet Beazley, Paul Brown, Howie Bursen, Murphy Henry, Bill Keith, Brad Leftwich, Ned Luberecki, Ken Perlman, Peter Schwimmer, and others. CAT-114 contains tunes and songs performed at the ABC2007 staff Concerts on 9/7/07 and 9/8/07 by: Danny Barnes, Janet Beazley, Paul Brown, Bob Carlin, Pat Cloud, Bill Keith, Debby McClatchy, Michael Miles, Ken Perlman, Pete Wernick, and others. CAT-116 contains tunes and songs performed at the ABC2008 staff Concerts on 9/5/08 and 9/6/08 by: Bob Carlin, Janet Davis, Bill Evans, Bill Keith, Brad Leftwich, Reed Martin, Alan Munde, Cathy Barton Para, Ken Perlman, Peter Wernick, and others. Send email to psl@acm.org for details.

Contact Us

Send questions or comments about registration (Registration@AmericanBanjoCamp.com)

Send questions or comments about the web page or email problems (psl@acm.org)

Send any other questions or comments (Info@AmericanBanjoCamp.com)

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