ASU guitar students give back to communith with guitar summer camps

WHAT: ASU Summer Guitar Camps
WHEN: June 10-28; times, see below
WHERE: Various locations around the Valley, see below
FEES: $60 per session

Youngsters interested in playing guitar have an inexpensive opportunity to learn the basics this summer and at the same time provide their schools with additional music funds.

The ASU Guitar Prep Program’s summer camps offer summer camps at the schools that the kids already attend and give back a portion of the fees to the music program at the schools. In its first year, the program raised more than $2,400 for four different elementary schools in the valley.

The camps are designed for beginning guitar students ages 5-13. For five days, kids learn how to play a few chords and several songs and have a lot of fun doing it. “It’s a low-pressure, fun way to be successful with your first experience with the guitar,” explains Joe Costello, founder and director of the ASU Guitar Prep Program. The camps serve as an introduction to the guitar and to the year-round program offered to the community at the main campus in Tempe as well as at ASU East in Mesa and at the Summit School of Ahwatukee.

The summer sessions are 50 minutes long, with class size no more than 11 students. Classes are divided by age: 5-7, 8-10 and 11-12. Morning sessions are at 10, 11 and noon; afternoon sessions are at 2, 3 and 4 p.m.; they will be held in at the following schools: June 10-14 at Aztec Elementary School of in Scottsdale, St. Thomas the Apostle School in Phoenix and CASY Country Day School of Scottsdale; June 17-21 on the main ASU campus in Tempe and at Paradise Valley Explorer Middle School; and June 24-28 at Summit School of Ahwatukee. The fee is $60 of which $20 goes back to each school’s music program. Registration deadline is May 17.

If you are interested in having your child participate in either the summer or year-round program, call Costello, at (480) 727-6903 or (480) 545-9736 and confirm your child’s enrollment in the camp.

The year-round ASU Guitar Prep Program, which is a part of the School of Music in the Herberger College of Fine Arts, offers classes with a maximum size of five students for ages 5-7 and a maximum of six students for ages 8-10, are the ideal in group dynamics for learning to play the guitar. The most effective principles of guitar pedagogy are applied by the class instructor in a fun and easy to follow format. The lessons are half-hour long and filled with activities, games and tasks that capture and hold the attention of our students. For children 5-10, the fee for 28 weeks of instruction is $338 (half-hour group lessons). For kids 11-18, the fee for 28 weeks of instruction is $632 (28 half-hour private lessons and 14 group lessons). All lessons are given after school from 4 to 9 p.m. 

Media Contact:
Mary Brennan
480-965-3587
mary.brennan@asu.edu