Forget the Campfire—Where’s the Recording Studio? Summer Camps for Future Music Industry Professionals

By David Templeton | From the September-October issue of Strings Magazine

As summer heat waves give way to the gentler weather of fall, and we put away our beach balls and camping gear, it’s time for the musically minded, especially students, to look back at one important element of a successful summer: music camp. The US has many such camps for high school musicians, populated each year with talented young players dreaming of a fruitful career. 

For such campers, those big dreams may include someday stepping onto a Los Angeles stage to accept a Grammy Award. After all, every music professional who’s ever collected one of those shiny, gold-plated trophies—for performing, producing, or audio engineering a winning song or album—began their journey to that celebrated stage as a student, eager to learn.

One annual camp where such lofty ambitions are not only accepted but strongly encouraged is the aptly named Grammy Camp, presented by the Grammy Museum in L.A. An intensive, non-residential seven-day experience, Grammy Camp, officially launched in 2005, took place this year from July 14 to July 20, at Village Studios in Los Angeles. Designed for high school students hoping to build careers in the music industry, the program is staffed with highly experienced music industry professionals and a number of guest musicians, many of whom already have a Grammy or two of their own.

The thing that sets Grammy Camp apart from many other summertime music camps is its emphasis on the industrial part of the music industry. “Grammy Camp faculty,” reads a description on the Grammy Museum website, “provide valuable insight to give campers the best chance at achieving success in their chosen career.”

Following a multi-step application process, which includes submission of a taped audition, a short video essay, and a clear description of the applicant’s career intentions, the accepted students are placed into one of the organization’s distinct career tracks. They then spend a full week absorbing a spectrum of in-depth details, insider industry information, and strategies vital to their area of focus. The career tracks include audio engineering, electronic music production, songwriting, performance-vocal, music and media, music business, performance-instrumental, rhythm section (that’s drums, bass, guitar, and keyboard), and winds and strings (trumpet, trombone, saxophone, violin, viola, cello, other brass, and woodwinds).

Between 75 and 85 students are selected for Grammy Camp each year—ten to 12 of them placed in each category. Though it’s all designed to give participating students the tools they will need to turn their dreams into reality, in the spirit of any other summer camp, the social connections these young musicians make are a key part of the experience. “Grammy Camp is a community of likeminded artists, people I get to express myself around,” noted recent camp attendee Leo Cheng, in a televised news piece about Grammy Camp that aired on KTLA Channel 5. “It’s teaching me so much about how to interact and work with other people,” Cheng acknowledged, “but also to be professional, to be kind, and to be honest. It makes me feel like my biggest dreams are valid.”

The importance of such human connections was also pointed out by Maya Ixta Delgado, who participated in the music business track. “If I could describe Grammy Camp in one word, it would be ‘family,’” she said, also emphasizing the importance of meeting and hearing from those working musicians who themselves were once participants of Grammy Camp. “I think it gives the students hope and inspiration,” Delgado added. “It lets all of us know that we can do it.”

Grammy Camp, for all of its star power and glamorous associations, is not the only summertime music camp where future industry professionals can learn the nuts and bolts of the business. UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music’s annual Music Industry Intensive is one of several summer offerings for high school students, who can also opt into programs for voice, songwriting, and global jazz. This year, the intensive took place in two week-long sessions: the first in June, the other in August.

“This week-long, virtual intensive introduces the real-world experiences foundational to the music industry, connecting those to practical and theoretical frameworks to familiarize students with what it takes to be leaders in the industry,” states the program’s website, adding that participating students will get to “examine the inner workings of the music industry, considering economic, political, social, and material perspectives. Throughout the course, students will collaborate, culminating in an industry-related group project of their choice that will be showcased and reviewed by industry professionals.”

University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, offers high school students a two-week Music Industry Summer Camp, hosted at the university’s own recording studios. Guided through the process of “creating, producing, releasing, and performing a song in the public space” by conservatory of music faculty, alumni, and industry professionals, students “explore the world of sound design, recording, publishing, licensing, and other dimensions that drive America’s $900 billion creative sector economy,” says the website. Participants focus on the creative process during the first week (“contemporary songwriting, performing, production, recording, lyricism, creative image branding”) and the release process during the second (music business and marketing, preparing a song for release, and live performances). During both weeks, students participate in Q&A sessions with industry insiders, and the program closes with students performing their song live or presenting their recording, music video, or business plan. 

Long considered a leader in career-oriented music education, Boston’s Berklee School of Music is naturally an organization that will come up in a conversation about industry-related summer camps for high school students. There are, of course, performance- and composition-focused programs, some with an industry-specific bent (Songwriting Sessions in Los Angeles; the High School Composition Intensive; the Film, TV, and Game Scoring Program, also in L.A.) and others with instrumental development at their core (Aspire intensive camps and the Global String Program). But there are two offerings that should delight the hearts of those with industry-track ambitions.

The Music Business Summer Program, for students ages 15 to 20, packs five days full to the brim: “Learn about the structure and key players in the music industry, as well as the primary areas of artist development—understanding music rights, revenue streams, branding, social media strategy, content creation, music marketing, and more—all of which are taught by a diverse array of established music industry professionals and Berklee’s world-class faculty,” says the website. Students work with emerging artists on an upcoming release, at the end of camp pitching a media plan to the artist and a panel of industry execs. 

More interested in music production specifically? Berklee also offers, for students ages 15 and up with some production experience, a Music Production Workshop. Over the course of a weekend (this past year in June), the program offers seminars and classes on the following: critical listening, business of music production, demystifying mastering, making and selling your own recordings, multitrack recording techniques, project/home studio design and setup, turntable techniques, and vocal production. An industry professional gives a keynote presentation at the end of the program, and evening sessions include “open recording and mix sessions, demonstrations, and lab time.” This is less of a hands-on kind of experience: sessions are mostly demonstration based and participants select the workshops in which they are interested. Typically, days kick off at breakfast (between 8 and 9 am) and evening sessions go on past 10 pm. 

Of course, these programs are just a few examples of the many that are available. A quick search reveals a seemingly endless array of industry-track summer summits. The Music for All Music Production Boot Camp, for example, offers participants the chance to “spend a week with professionals in a high-end studio recording bands, making beats, and designing game audio.” So if your interests run more toward the studio or conference room than they do the practice room next summer, have no fear! Your ideal workshop is no doubt just around the corner.