Twenty Four Years of Beautiful Music and Aloha!
For 24 years and over 30 camps, Aloha Music Camp’s Artistic Director Keola Beamer has assembled an exceptional group of instructors. They are some of Hawaii’s finest musicians, performing artists, and cultural practitioners. Throughout your week at Aloha Music Camp, you’ll have many opportunities to engage with them during classes, mealtimes, concerts, and jam sessions.
Class sizes are kept small so that by the end of Camp, you will have truly made progress in your field of study and will have created lasting friendships that span the years. We pride ourselves on the continuity and quality of our instruction. Instructors are available not just for one or two lessons, but for the entire week. Also, we are committed to having an absolutely great time!
All Levels Welcome
Aloha Music Camp welcomes those who already play music, as well as those who wish to try playing guitar, ʻukulele, or Hawaiian steel for the first time; the same goes for hula, ʻukulele building, implement-making, Hawaiian language, or any of the other classes we offer.
Keola picks instructors who can easily teach any of the levels from beginner to advanced, so you will never feel left behind, nor will you feel bored!
Contact us if you have any questions.
Instruments
Bring your guitar, ʻukulele, or steel guitar for your classes, and/or whatever you would like to play during our fun “jam sessions” after classes are all finished for the day. Be sure to use a good-quality case if you are going to be bringing your instrument as check-in luggage on flights to Hawaiʻi.
It may be possible to rent instruments from a local business near to the Camp location, so if that is something that interests you, please research and set that up for yourself well ahead of Camp. Furthermore, please see our FAQ page about what things you need if you wish to take a steel guitar class at Camp.
If you are going to try something for the first time, you might want borrow an instrument from a friend, or perhaps even borrow one from Mohala Hou Foundation (when and if available). For example, if you wish to try your hand at slide steel guitar, we might have a steel guitar you can use. Please use the Contact Us form to make your request. Requests are taken on a first-come, first-served basis since we have only a small number of instruments to lend.
Please also contact us if you have an instrument you would like to donate to Mohala Hou Foundation for use by other students. Most of our scholarship students use these instruments and we always run out during Camp week! We thank those who have already donated the guitar, ʻukulele, and steel guitars, as well as those kind individuals who have donated scholarship funds over the years.
Camp Life
The main thing to know about Camp life is that it is fun! You will be surrounded by folks who have the same interests as you in learning to play Hawaiian music or learning about Hawaiian culture and you will find the instructors to be very friendly and easy to communicate with. Evening events are also very enjoyable and will expose you to new music and experiences that very hard to find in everyday life outside of Camp.
We encourage you to attend and follow as many classes as you can throughout the week, but you ultimately have the choice about how much or how little you would like do. You can work hard to stretch yourself and learn new skills in playing your instrument of choice; or you can “play hard” and relax on the beach and listen to the music of the waves and coconut palms if that suits you better; or you can set yourself halfway between. Either way, you will enjoy the great food at the venue throughout each day and the warm company of the other Campers throughout the week.
To read a write-up on Camp life when Camp was at Keauhou, Kona, on Hawaiʻi island in 2011, please see Marya Mann’s entry Awakening Hawaiian Spirit on Ke Ola Magazine‘s website.
