All Camps

Summer Camps!

Backbeat Music Academy’s summer music camps offer an incredible selection of experiences for total novices just getting started making music to advanced players looking to expand their knowledge and skills, and to find other musicians. Most of our camps feature epic performances by the campers at the end of the week. All of our camps are geared toward fostering a love of music, knowledge of music-making, an understanding of how it works and the self-confidence needed to see it through.

Our camps are 9am-4pm, or divided into Morning (9am-noon) and Afternoon (1pm-4pm) camps. Full Day camps are usually a combination of 2 other camps, such as Rock Band + Try Everything, or Build-A-Guitar + Rock Band. 

Sign Up For Summer Camps!

Click the button above or text/call us at (503) 290-5090, or email us at contact@backbeatmusicacademy.com

Rock Band Camps

Ages 5-8, 8-12, 13+
half-day, full-day options

Backbeat’s Rock Bands are performance-based camps where students learn and perform songs they like or songs they wrote with their peers. This camp is probably what you think of first when you think of rock bands: drums, guitar, bass, vocals and pianos form the core of the band. Don’t let that scare you if you play the violin, accordion, saxophone or anything else – if you want to join a band we can adapt the material to include you!
Each group is broken down according to experience level and age. No experience is necessary – we can show you the basics and get you jamming. However, you might prefer one of our Try Everything camps that are aimed at beginners who’d like to get their feet wet.
Sign Up For Summer Camps!

Try Everything Camps

Ages 5-8, 8-12, 13+
half-day, full-day options

Backbeat’s Try Everything Music Camps are a chance for kids to try out many different kinds of musical instruments to see what they like best. Students learn basic songs on several different instruments, including piano, ukulele, guitar, bass, drums, flute, and more. They get to play many different instruments besides.

Along the way, students will learn the basics of music theory and how it applies to the other instruments. We’ll teach them about the physics of sound production because a little science goes a long way into figuring out how the different instruments work, how to make the best tone and how to play instruments you’ve never even seen before. If the class is interested, there will be a performance at the end of this camp.

Instrument Building Camps

Ages 11-14, teen (camps for younger kids coming soon)

Brand New in 2026, check out one of our Building Instrument Camps. The highlight is kids will build a real working electric guitar they get to take home that plays well. We’ll also build bagpipes, drums and more. 

Kids will get supervised use of tools, paints and varnishes to finish the guitar bodies (we have an outside). 

Note this camp has a materials fee of $100. This includes the cost of the guitar. The guitar parts we’re using are entirely decent, but if you wanted to upgrade to higher quality pickups, tuners, etc, contact us and we can do that, too for the difference in price (or bring in your own). 

 

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Write Music For Computer Games Camps

Click here to see what is still open

Campers will learn the basics of how to write songs that affect how people feel – the core idea behind the music for soundtracks … even video game soundtracks. Our camps leverage the fun factor to teach music theory, or the hidden rules of how music works. Mastering these rules are some of the most helpful skills for budding musicians but often the most boring to learn. Through this camp, students will start to understand how music works, how songs are built, and how they can play the music themselves. If the student is already a musician, we’ll encourage her to actually play the songs she wrote.

Harness your child’s energy for video games to learn music theory!

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Songwriting Camps

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Backbeat’s Songwriting Camps are a place to take your songwriting skills to the next level. It’s a fun, nurturing and inspirational camp to escape with a group of like-minded, creative people. Our teachers are all professional musicians who write their own songs and who will share their experience and knowledge first hand.

You will:

  • learn about songwriting from
  • experienced professionals
  • collaborate with other songwriters
  • build your songwriting network
  • perform your work with a band
  • write better songs than you’ve ever written before
Sign Up For Summer Camps!