Summer Wheat Music Camp

June 13 – 18, 2023

Camp registration is now open!

Download and fill-in the 2023 Summer Wheat Music Camp Registration Form

About Summer Wheat Music Camp:

Five full days of fun, music and dance instruction, concerts, food and summer goodness at the Festival site.

The Wheatland Music Camp is dedicated to providing an immersive musical and educational experience for those looking to enhance their current skills and/or build a solid foundation in a new area. Old Time, Cajun, Bluegrass, Blues, Songwriting and Dance are a few areas of concentration for next year’s camp. In addition to daytime classes with accomplished instructors in the traditional music scene, evening activities consist of jam sessions, dances, and performances by campers, instructors and special guests. This will be some serious quality time at Wheatland, don’t miss out!

What goes on at Summer Wheat Music Camp?

Daily instrument, dance and songwriting classes
Jam Sessions
Evening Dances
Camper, Instructor & Special Guest Performances

Who is Summer Wheat Music Camp for?

All levels of players are welcome! Whether you are a beginner or veteran, you will be sure to leave camp with a markedly enhanced ability in your area of interest (and a boat-load of new friends!).

While the Summer Wheat Music Camp is designed for adults, young folks able to sustain an adult level of participation are welcome (parent or guardian required).

Genres

Old Time, Cajun, Blues, Bluegrass, Americana, Dance & Songwriting

Instruments

Fiddle, Banjo, Mandolin, Guitar, Bass, Dobro, Steel/Slide Guitar, Accordion, Harmonica, Ukulele & more

Activities

Daily Classes, Jam Sessions, Dances, Performances by Campers, Instructors and Special Guests

On-Site Camping

On-site camping, food and shower services are included in the registration fee.
Low-amp electrical service (15-20 amp) available to weeklong campers for an additional fee on a first-come, first-served basis.
Contact the office for more information.
Generators permitted in Generator-friendly camping areas on-site.
Camp will take place on the Wheatland festival grounds just west of Remus, MI (5161 Pierce Rd, Remus, MI 49340).

Keep In Touch!

If you have any questions, please contact the WMO Office at 989-967-8879 or wmo.office@wheatlandmusic.org.

Keep in touch with music camp attendees and instructors by joining the “Wheatland Music Camp” Group on Facebook.

You can also be added to Wheatland’s monthly eNews and QuarterNotes mailing lists by calling 989-967-8879 or emailing wmo.office@wheatlandmusic.org.

2023 Class and Instructor Listings

InstructorsClassesSchedule PDFs

Annette Barton

Lap Dulcimer Explorations

David Bowen

Exploring Celtic Guitar Styles | Celtic Ballads: Crying in Your Beer – Songs of Love, Humor, & Loss

Hannah Harris Ceol

Irish Fiddle Tunes | Irish Songs

I’m both a performer and a teacher and love nothing more than giving my students and audience an experience that enriches their understanding of Irish traditional music and provides space for them to belong.

Rich Coats

Merle Haggard tribute (Friday)

Bruce Gartner

Old Time Band | Exploring the Fiddle | Old Time Fiddle

David Greely

Cajun & Creole Fiddle Tunes | Cajun A Capella Ballads

David Greely was born in Baton Rouge of Irish and Cajun ancestry. After years of playing vintage country fiddle professionally in Texas and Nashville he was ready to immerse himself in his grandparents’ music and language. David and Steve Riley formed the Mamou Playboys in 1988. He studied fiddle with Dewey Balfa and dove deep into the Archive of Cajun and Creole music to find forgotten songs that they could bring back to the rural dance halls they played every weekend. It became natural for them to weave fresh ideas into that tradition and still maintain their connection to their heroes and their audience.

Drew Howard

Blues Guitar | Bottleneck Slide | Dobro

Drew Howard is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist with 40+ years of stage, session and music production experience in multiple genres. Drew teaches private music lessons and class instruction for MSU Community Music School, Elderly Instruments, Wheatland Music Organization and Interlochen Center for the Arts.

Don Julin

Exploring the Mandolin | Improve Your Groove: Find the Back Beat | Mandolin Tunes

Julin is a mandolin player, a commercial composer, recording engineer, and best-selling author, and he works really hard at everything he does. Julin puts it simply, “I am a blue-collar player. I like working man’s music, whether it’s bluegrass or jazz or rock ‘n’ roll or blues. You know, regular folk’s music.” Julin has written two mandolin instructional books, Mandolin for Dummies and Mandolin Exercises for Dummies.

Billy King

Cajun Guitar (Saturday)

Billy’s versatility as a multi-genre singer-songwriter is matched by his ability on a wide range of instruments from guitar and banjo to keyboards and accordion.

Kate Moritz

Exploring Hammered Dulcimer | More Hammered Dulcimer

2013 National Hammered Dulcimer Champion, Katie Moritz is a musician and teacher hailing from the Chicagoland area in Northern Illinois. Her taste in music is geared towards more eclectic sounds. and when she started playing the hammered dulcimer, she found her authentic musical “voice”. The unique instrument was able to seamlessly sew together Katie’s love of traditional music from around the world, 1940’s jazz standards, Broadway musicals, bluegrass, and pop.

Carol Palms

Music Theory for Vocalists | Old Time Bass

Mark Palms

Clawhammer Banjo | Beginning & Old Time Guitar | Old Time Songs & Accompaniment

Dan Seabolt

Beginning to Intermediate Fiddle | Cross Tunings on the Fiddle | Improv on the Fiddle

Dan Seabolt provides instruction, along with music theory and improvisational techniques, on various instruments such as violin/fiddle, guitar, mandolin, beginning banjo, resonator guitar, and ukulele. Also, he is a skilled and accomplished maker of the violin, viola, cello, double bass, and mandolin.

Nicholas James Thomasma

Songwriting | Storytelling | Harmonica

Traveling around in a bright orange 1973 Volkswagen Bus, singer songwriter and Earthwork Music artist Nicholas James Thomasma combines stories and songs for a show that can be enjoyed by patrons of all ages. Whether he’s performing with his backing band Nicholas James and the Bandwagon or as a solo acoustic act, Nicholas charms the audience with his playful sense of humor and real life stories. A board member at the Michigan Music Alliance, Nicholas is also the curator of a songwriter in- the-round style concert series called the Songtellers in Grand Rapids, MI.

Matt Watroba

Community Sing | Performance

Many know Matt Watroba as the voice of folk music in Michigan for his work with WDET–Detroit Public Radio. As producer and host of the Folks Like Us program, and the nationally syndicated, Sing Out Radio Magazine and Folk Alley, Watroba has come in contact with many aspects of folk music and culture. This has helped shape a repertoire and presentation that is unique on stages across the state and country. He is committed to inspiring the world to sing-- one town at a time.

Howard Wilson

Fingerpicking | Swing Guitar w/Frank Youngman | Music Theory w/Frank Youngman

Frank Youngman

Exploring the Ukulele | Intermediate Ukulele | Swing Guitar w/Howard Wilson | Music Theory w/Howard Wilson

Frank has been playing all types of music his whole life. A multi-instrumentalist, he has performed in places as diverse as The Improv Comedy Club in New York City to A Prairie Home Companion. A founding member of The Lost World Stringband, The Pets, and Jive at Five, he continues to keep a busy recording and performing schedule. He has just finished up his 35th year of teaching, the last seventeen years as the Director of Instrumental Music for the Lake City Area Schools. The Uke was his first instrument.

2003 Class Information

BANJO

Clawhammer Banjo (Mark Palms)

BASS/UPRIGHT BASS

Old Time Bass (Carol Palms)

CAJUN

Cajun & Creole Fiddle Tunes (David Greely)
Cajun A Capella Ballads (David Greely)
Cajun Guitar (Billy King – Saturday only)

CELTIC/IRISH

Exploring Celtic Guitar Styles (David Bowen)
Celtic Ballads: Crying in Your Beer – Songs of Love, Humor, & Loss (David Bowen)
Irish Fiddle Tunes (Hannah Harris Ceol)
Irish Songs (Hannah Harris Ceol)

DOBRO

Dobro (Drew Howard)

DULCIMER (Includes both LAP & HAMMERED, also below)

Lap Dulcimer Explorations (Annette Barton)
Exploring Hammered Dulcimer (Kate Moritz)
More Hammered Dulcimer (Kate Moritz)

FIDDLE

Beginning to Intermediate Fiddle (Dan Seabolt)
Cajun & Creole Fiddle Tunes (David Greely)
Cross Tunings on the Fiddle (Dan Seabolt)
Exploring the Fiddle (Bruce Gartner)
Improv on the Fiddle (Dan Seabolt)
Irish Fiddle Tunes (Hannah Harris Ceol)
Old Time Fiddle (Bruce Gartner)

GUITAR

Beginning & Old Time Guitar (Mark Palms)
Blues Guitar (Drew Howard)
Cajun Guitar (Billy King – Saturday only)
Exploring Celtic Guitar Styles (David Bowen)
Flatpicking (Drew Howard)
Fingerpicking (Howard Wilson)
Swing Guitar (Howard Wilson/Frank Youngman)

HAMMERED DULCIMER

Exploring Hammered Dulcimer (Kate Moritz)

HARMONICA

Harmonica (Nicholas James Thomasma)

LAP DULCIMER

Lap Dulcimer Explorations (Annette Barton)

MANDOLIN

Exploring the Mandolin (Don Julin)
Improve Your Groove: Find the Back Beat (Don Julin)
Mandolin Tunes (Don Julin)

MUSIC THEORY

Music Theory (Howard Wilson/Frank Youngman)
Music Theory for Vocalists (Carol Palms)

OLD TIME BAND

Old Time Band (Bruce Gartner)

SINGING

Cajun & Capella Ballads (David Greely)
Community Sing: For the Sake of the Song (Matt Watroba)
Improving Overall Performance: Get the Most out of the Songs You Sing (Matt Watroba)
Harmony Sing (Matt Watroba/Carol Palms/David Greely)
Irish Songs (Hannah Harris Ceol)
Merle Haggard Tribute (Rich Coats – Friday only)
Music Theory for Vocalists (Carol Palms)
Old Time Songs & Accompaniment (Mark Palms)