Violin Bootcamp | Ages 10-18 | Mason Arts Academy/GMU, Fairfax VA

Summer Violin Camp

SUMMER VIOLIN BOOTCAMP

Violin Bootcamp is an intensive summer violin camp focused on strengthening a violinist’s technical foundation, building new musical skills and developing practice strategies and mindsets to launch students to the next level of artistry. Through daily group classes focused on fundamentals, scales and technique, multiple private lessons through the week, daily individual practice time, and workshops on the art of practicing, violinists will have all the resources they need to hone their craft to the next level, all in a supportive community of like-minded students. The week will culminate with an informal presentation of progress and student reflections on their insights and experiences.

Recommended Level: ASTACAP Level 4/Suzuki Book 3 level and up – Some familiarity with shifting and third position is necessary.

Ages: 10 – 18
Dates: July 25 – 29, 2022
Times: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm* (M-F)
Tuition: $582
Location: Mason Community Arts Academy Building in Fairfax, VA
Regular Application Deadline: Monday, May 16th (acceptance decisions sent on/before May 20th)

*After Care not available for this program.

SCHOLARSHIPS
Limited needs-based scholarship funding is available. Please submit the application form for camp linked below and complete the MCAA Financial Aid Application process to be considered for both acceptance and scholarship.

APPLY NOW!
An application and successful video audition are required to participate in this program. Please complete the below online application form and follow audition video submission instructions. See Audition Material below.

COVID REQUIREMENTS: Students must follow University Covid protocols. Please see updates here.

Application is closed.

Audition Material:

One major scale (as many octaves as you can play fluently)
One melodic minor scale (as many octaves as you can play fluently)
2 – 5 minutes of a solo piece

PROGRAM FACULTY

Co-Director/Instructor: Claire Allen
Academy Teaching Artist
Read about Ms. Allen

Claire Allen is an active performing violinist and private teacher in the Washington, D.C. area. She is a Teaching Artist at Mason Community Arts Arts Academy, where she has a private studio of students ages 4 through 18 and is the Faculty Coordinator. She teaches Violin Beginnings, a series of group classes for young children just starting to play violin, teaches supplemental Suzuki-style group classes for students already in private lessons, coordinates the chamber music program, and is a co-director of the summer Violin Bootcamp. Recent student successes include five prize winners in the Academy Music Competition, superior ratings in the Solo & Ensemble festival, and successful auditions for the American Youth Debut Orchestra and String Ensemble.

Before teaching for Mason Community Arts Academy, Claire was a teaching assistant at the Baltimore School for the Arts where she coached chamber music, directed sectionals, and assisted with the orchestras. She also taught privately in an outreach program that provided free lessons to inner-city school children, To Work In Gaining Skills (TWIGS). She has also been on faculty at the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory Outreach Department. During her teacher training, Claire completed two levels of Suzuki teacher training at the Greater Washington Area Suzuki Institute and studied pedagogy with Rebecca Henry at the Peabody Conservatory. In summer 2013, she attended a pedagogy workshop at Indiana University directed by Mimi Zweig.

As a performer, Claire is a member of the first violin section in the McLean Orchestra. She is a founder of the Faculty String Quartet at Academy. Highlights from the 2016-2017 season include a solo recital at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, orchestral performances with the McLean Orchestra, and chamber music performances as part of Fairfax City’s Spotlight on the Arts festival.

Claire created a recital to promote the music of female composers in June 2016, in which she and her students performed with pianist David Norfrey and Cora Cooper, the editor of the Violin Music By Women Anthologies. She performed works by Rebecca Clarke, Clara Schumann, and Amanda Maier. In addition to performance, Claire co-taught a teacher training workshop on the Violin Music By Women Anthologies and awareness of gender issues in the modern violin studio. Her blogs on the subject have been featured on Violinist.com.

Claire holds a Master of Music degree from Peabody Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music degree, summa cum laude, from Baldwin-Wallace College. Her primary teachers include Rebecca Henry, Keng-Yuen Tseng, Burton Kaplan, Julian Ross, and Lisa Cridge. She performs on a modern violin made by Tetsuo Matsuda.

Summer Violin Camp Teacher
Co-Director/Instructor: Matt Richardson
Violin Teaching Artist
Read about Mr. Richardson

Matt Richardson is a Freelance Violinist/Violist and teacher in the DC Metropolitan area. He frequently performs with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, The National Philharmonic, the New Orchestra of Washington, the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, The Williamsburg Symphony, the Apollo Orchestra, and the Mclean Orchestra. Other orchestral experience includes performances with the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, the Virginia Opera, Opera on the James, the Mark Morris Dance Company, the International Chamber Orchestra of Washington, the Cathedral Choral Society Orchestra, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, the Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra, and the American Festival Pops Orchestra. He is a frequent solo and chamber recitalist in the Metropolitan DC area, performing on such series as the Kent Chamber Music (DE) series, the Music with the Angels series (DC), the USAF Band Chamber series (VA), and the Fairfax County Spotlight on the Arts series (VA), as well as having performed in numerous DC venues including, The Kennedy Center Concert Hall and Millennium Stage, The Washington National Cathedral, The Music Center at Strathmore, The Lyceum in Old Town Alexandria, The Washington Masonic Memorial, The Church of the Holy City (DC) and many others.

Additionally, Matthew has been an active violin teacher and clinician in the Northern Virginia area since 2007, maintaining private studios at Mason Community Arts Academy at George Mason University, and out of his home in Centreville, VA. His students have gone to rank highly in all levels of the American Youth Philharmonic orchestras, the Mclean Youth Orchestra, and the Arlington Philharmonic’s “Crescendo” chamber music program, as well as leading sections in the Northern Virginia and North Central Virginia Senior Regional Orchestras, and the Virginia All-State Orchestra. He has also served on the faculty of the Corcoran Chamber Music Institute at George Washington University since 2014, and the GMU Ovations Summer Strings Academy since 2009. Matt’s primary teachers include Peter Haase, Zino Bogachek, Karen Johnson, Weigang Li, and Joseph Wargo.

Instructor: Hannah Price
Academy Teaching Artist
Read about Ms. Price

Hannah Price is a passionate and dedicated teacher of all ages and abilities. As an artist, scholar, and teacher, her efforts and contributions to music aim to propel the value and quality of music education forward, keeping it central to the core of human value in a quickly evolving world.

An active advocate for community engagement, Ms. Price has been involved in the development of the Musical Storytelling Project in Oberlin, OH, and as a participant in programs that bring music and instruction to Grafton Correctional Institution and hurricane-stricken areas of Puerto Rico.

Throughout her musical career, Ms. Price has regularly performed as a chamber, orchestral, and solo musician in concert programs domestically and internationally. She has performed as an orchestral musician in venues including Carnegie Hall (New York, NY), Severance Hall (Cleveland, OH), and the Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas, TX). In past Summers, Ms. Price has participated in the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, and Litomysl International String Masterclass (Litomysl, Czech Republic), among others.

Ms. Price holds a Master’s degree with a concentration in Music in Education from the New England Conservatory, having studied under the mentorship of Ayano Ninomiya. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin Conservatory after having begun her studies at Indiana University under the instruction of Sibbi Bernhardsson.

Summer Violin Camp Teacher
Instructor: Andrew Juola
Academy Teaching Artist
Read about Mr. Juola

Andrew Juola is an active performer in the DC Metropolitan area. He performs with the Washington Concert Opera’s first violin section, the Tysons-Mclean Orchestra, and the Arlington Philharmonic as both a first and second violinist. He freelances with various other ensembles as both a violinist and violist.

Andrew holds a Bachelor of Music in performance from George Mason University and a Master’s of Music from the University of Maryland. He considers Peter Haase and James Stern to be his most influential teachers. Throughout his formal studies, Andrew attended and performed at collegiate chamber music and orchestral festivals including the National Orchestral Institute, Bowdoin International Music Festival, the National Music Festival, and the Orfeo Music Festival in Vipiteno, Italy.

Andrew has taught privately for six years and has extensive experience coaching chamber ensembles and sectionals. Through the use of the Suzuki method, the teachings of Paul Rolland, and Alexander Technique, he wants his students to discover a technique with which they can project their musical ideas through their instruments. Andrew’s students have auditioned successfully for collegiate programs in music as well as in district and regional events at the pre-college level on violin and viola.

TESTIMONIALS

Violin Bootcamp 2022 Participants:

“Bootcamp really teaches you how to practice effectively. It really translates over to other instruments, not just violin. Also, your tone and posture WILL improve here. Trust me.”

“Bootcamp was pretty fun, I really love hanging out with friends, and I really improved. I really liked collaborating. Even though they make us exercise in the morning (don’t worry, it really makes you improve).”

“Bootcamp was a lot of fun and I enjoyed all the different classes throughout the day. Every lesson and teacher helped me play and understand the violin. Definitely coming next year!”

“Bootcamp was hard, but overall it was worth it. Bootcamp has changed how I practice, play, and learn violin.”

SPONSORSHIP

SUMMER 2022 SPONSORS

This program has been made possible, in part, with support from Foxes Music, Fairfax Fine Violins, and Sleepy Puppy Press .

SUMMER 2021 SPONSORS

This program has been made possible, in part, with support from ACMP Associated Chamber Music Players and Day Violins.

Be sure to check our FAQs and policies and procedures regarding registration, safety protocols, curriculum, technology, and more for summer programs.
All students will receive a Welcome Letter via email at least 1 week before the program starts with all necessary details, including camp schedule, supply list, weblinks, etc. For additional information, please contact the Academy at academy@gmu.edu.
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