Jam this Summer at Sunburst!

Apr 07, 2022

Yes, it still feels like winter and we’ve blown through the 6 more weeks Phil promised us. The warmer months are almost here! From summer camps to family vacations, now is the time to plan for summer. We thought we’d include a little something here about what that can mean for your music practice. 

With music, like so many things in life, consistency is key. So while there are a great many moving parts for families during the summer months, we’d like to start by encouraging everyone to keep up with their practice! Here’s a little bit about how our programs work over the summer: 

Private Lessons

  • Take advantage of our flexible make up policy. You can cancel any lessons with more than 24-hour notice and have up to 30 days to schedule a make up lesson. These can even be done ahead of time, ie: cancel a lesson in July and do the make up in June, and get a little extra recital practice.
  • Do an “intensive”. Do you have a month where you’ll be out of town for 3 out of 4 weeks? Move all of your lessons to the one week you’re here! You can stack four 30-minute lessons into two one-hour lessons. Or, try 30 minutes each on four different instruments, including songwriting or music production. This can be a great way to dig in before some time off! 
  • Take your lessons on the road. Can’t make it in person? Switch any number of your lessons to Zoom. It can also be a great time to learn some music theory (Here are some tips on fitting your guitar into the overhead compartment). 
  • Attend #SummerJamz. Over the course of the summer, we’re offering a number of pickup band sessions we call #SummerJamz. Any private lesson and/or group program students can attend these for free as make ups. These are a great way to meet other musicians and get the opportunity to jam in the context of a band! (full details coming in May)
  • “Sublet” your lesson time. Certain 5 pm Tuesday times are more coveted than Steelers season tickets. Maybe you have a friend/sibling/parent etc. who would be interested in trying out a few weeks of lessons while you’re not around. 
  • Request a Video Lesson. This is a new option that we’re trying out. If you can’t make it in person or over Zoom, your instructor can use the time to put together a video lesson and practice materials so you don’t skip a beat. Full details coming soon.
  • Donate your lesson to the scholarship fund. This is another new option this year. If you’ve got a lesson you can’t make, or make up, we can turn it into a donation to the Sunburst Music Scholarship Fund at your request. This is a great way to hold your spot and also help other kids learn music who may not otherwise have the opportunity! 
Group Programs

For our Group Programs, things work more or less how they do the rest of the year. Bands that have worked hard on material throughout the spring and stick together through the summer will have a ton of great outdoor performance opportunities! It can also be a good time to work on things like songwriting and recording, which still work well even if a band member is missing from time to time. 

If you’re unable to make it to any of your sessions over the course of the summer, you can attend a #SummerJamz session as a make up! #SummerJamz are pick-up band sessions where we learn songs and have fun jamming as a group (see above).

Summer Camps

Of course, the other great things happening over the summer at Sunburst are our camps! This year we’ve got seven awesome camps to choose from. Check out the full lineup and sign up here.

Performances

The summer is a great time for performances, starting with our recitals in the first weeks of June. Each year Sunburst books slots for bands and individual students at a ton of outdoor events around the city. We’ll also be hosting an Open Mic Night for everyone working hard on their material all summer. It’s the best time of year to go out and hear music, and best of all to perform and be a part of it.

If you’d like to discuss your plans for summer, get in touch with our admin team as soon as you can. We know it can be a crazy time so we really try to do our best to make it work for everyone. It’s also a busy time for new students signing up so we encourage everyone to schedule make ups, #SummerJamz, etc. sooner rather than later. Let’s make this a summer to remember! 

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