IGC 2027 News
Totally Guitars launched the International Guitar Camp in 2013. Our home is in the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California at the Green Mountain Retreat, just outside of Los Gatos. The IGC has evolved and improved quite a bit since our first back in 2013 and following is current information for 2027.
We typically host two camps yearly, one in the Spring and one in the Fall. The Spring IGC is held in April, runs Wednesday through Sunday (April 7-11, 2027), and is limited to about 24 students. We are still in the planning stages for the Fall of 2027.
The standard agenda focuses on individual and small group instruction, along with collaborating with other students. Two and a half of the four nights are Open Mic Nights, where all students are encouraged to play on stage for the group. One night is Song Circle Night, a less formal way to share and enjoy songs with the group.
No one is required to play at all, but the opportunity is there for everyone to work on their performing skills. We may also hold a Performance Workshop where a few students play something for the group and then get feedback and comments from the staff as to how they could improve on stage.
Every camp starts with morning workshops with small group sessions, followed by songwriting and individual instruction in the afternoons. Evening sessions include our Open Mics and a Song Circle, then on to late-night jams in the historic Pueblo building. There is even some free time to practice, collaborate with others, or just enjoy the beautiful grounds of the Green Mountain Retreat.
Another opportunity to perform in a lower key setting is in a Meal Set. These are 15-20-minute sets during lunch and dinner, in more of a background music mode while people are eating and talking.
We will have the same fabulous staff of teachers and performers, featuring Dave Nachmanoff, Jim Bruno, Doug Young, Mike Mullins and yours truly. Max Rich will be joining us in April as well.
Our morning sessions will typically start with an hour workshop of mine where we go into things like general theory, guitar geography, ear training, or sometimes just into questions from the group. The next two hours are break-out sessions where small groups of students rotate through three teachers in three 40-minute blocks.
After lunch Dave leads sessions on Songwriting and all of us are available for one-on-one lessons.
As mentioned above, to maximize the IGC experience for everyone we must limit each event to about 24 campers. Time is of the essence in registering as both camps fill up quickly, mostly with returning campers, but we always have room to add a few new folks who want to improve their musicianship.
Once again, I look forward to reconnecting with many IGC alumni and welcoming others into the IGC Family.
Neil
The Green Mountain Retreat contains a number of historic structures including a few that were relocated from the Tevis Estate in 1909. The Tevis Estate was located on the adjacent property which is now part of the Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve (Mid-Peninsula Open Space District).
