You pick your schedule! After you enroll for your season, we’ll contact you with orientation materials. At that time you can start selecting your class times via the calendar in your online studio profile. Here is a snapshot of a a snapshot of a pretty typical month.

Our studio is located on the Boise Bench — just off Latah near “The Carwash” (The Stil, Push & Pour, & Wyld Child). We also offer all our classes via Zoom so you can meet us from the comfort of your own home!

Campfire Club is for adults (age 18+) with some musical experience (novice players and beyond), who are looking for inspiration and community! If you’re an absolute beginner or want to enroll with your teen or tween (ages 10+), then a full membership is the way to go.

Still not sure if you’d consider yourself a novice player or beginner? Here’s what we recommend for each instrument:

Guitar, Ukulele, Mandolin, Banjo, or Bass Guitar:

Confident tuning your instrument

Ability to read a chord chart

Comfortable following a “lead sheet” (chords over lyrics)

Violin & Fiddle

Confident tuning your instrument

Ability to read sheet music (as an overall reference, not “sight reading”)

Comfortable playing in first position in keys with up to 3 sharps or flats

Piano & Keyboard

Ability to read a chord chart

Comfortable following a “lead sheet” (chords over lyrics)

Sheet music knowledge recommended if you’d like to play melodic riffs

Drum Set & Cajón

Comfortable keeping time with a group of musicians

Understanding of how to adjust your volume to suit the song and group

We get it! Performing music in front of others is right up there with public speaking for most folks. This is why we never have recitals in our studio. As our players will tell you, our program is all about sharing and celebrating musical experiences — it’s not performance-based like traditional classical music education.

We work hard to create a safe space for our studio members to play and explore at all stages of the learning process. As both teachers and musicians, we participate in ongoing trauma-informed continuing education and implement what we learn in our teaching philosophy and studio environment.

We don’t allow any spectators (just players) at our group classes so everyone is equally invested and never put on the spot. Whether you’ve been with us 1 month or 10+ years (like some of our die-hard musical enthusiasts), you’ll be supported and championed for your bravery as you play music.

If you truly don’t feel comfortable playing with a group of other learners, you’re welcome to join the livestream from home or watch the recorded class at your convenience.

Thank you for trusting us to help guide you on your musical journey!

We know it can be daunting to start your musical journey or rediscover your musical self. That said, while taking a single lesson or class is a fun experience, it doesn’t allow for a real transition in mindset or the development of connection and community.

You’re also welcome to hear from our players before starting your season.

We’re glad you’re excited to play music and wish we could help you get started right away!

Our Song Cycles are cumulative, so it’s important that you start at the beginning of a season and learn along with the rest of the studio. We want you to have the best possible experience in our program and get you started on the right foot!

We book out months in advance, so it’s best to reserve your place in the next available season (dates specified above) as soon as you know you can commit. If for some reason we happen to have an unexpected opening near the start of the current season, we’ll contact you and offer the opportunity to start sooner.

We get it — life happens! If for some reason you can’t finish your full season we have a variety of options available for you. The most popular option is to transfer your remaining membership to a friend or family member. This is awesome, because now you’ll have a buddy to jam with! You can also donate your remaining membership to our scholarship fund and share the musical love.

Buckle up — we’ve got a lot to cover! 😂

First off, we use Song Cycles to help you learn all of the tangible musical concepts that you’d learn via traditional method books. The difference is, learning through popular, contemporary songs is a lot more fun and motivating! We use these songs to teach you whatever your heart desires — from strumming chords to playing melodies, or even improvising if that’s your jam! Here’s how it all goes down…

Interactive Tutorials

This interactive module includes all your awesome song materials. We’ll release it at the start of your Song Cycle so you can dive in whenever you’re ready to play. Each song includes:

12+ Recorded Instrument Tutorials (options for beginners and beyond)

6 Custom Chord Charts (options for beginners and beyond)

2 Play-Along Tracks with Adjustable Playback Speeds (chords/vocals & melodic riffs)

Sheet Music Print Materials

Lead Sheet (chords and lyrics)

Melodic Riffs (2 options with full score)

Optional Scale for Improvisation Inspo

And quick FYI, you do NOT need to know how to read sheet music or even learn to read it to be a fantastic musician. Most folks in our program choose to only play from the lead sheet with chords and lyrics. The other options are mostly there for the overachievers (we see you, former school orchestra peeps! 😉).

Campfire Session

This is where the real magic happens! After two weeks of playing your chosen part of the studio song at home, we put it all together as a group. This is a class, not a rehearsal or performance, where we show you how to contribute and integrate your part with the group. We build the song bit by bit, and share in the delight of hearing everything come together. And finally, once we’re all feeling comfortable and confident, we play the song all the way through. There’s not a way to truly capture the feeling of playing together and creating something bigger than ourselves. Words or videos don’t do it justice — it is something truly unique, and best experienced authentically in the moment, that will leave you inspired and wanting more.

And beyond!

Once you’ve completed your song cycle, now you can revisit the song whenever you’d like! You can try it on a different instrument, or find new ways to play it as you grow as a musician. And best of all, now you can jam this song with friends and family.

Our studio songs are all suggestions from our players! We usually choose suggestions that are enjoyable to play around a campfire; this usually means something in the folk, rock, or country genre, though we’ll play anything catchy and fun! Songs by Brandi Carlile, The Decemberists, The Beatles, The White Stripes (the more acoustic-ey ditties), The Avett Brothers, and any artist featured on the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack are usually studio-wide favorites.

We want everyone in our program to have the best possible experience. And those who have the best experiences start their season with open hearts and open ears, feeling excited to play music with others. For this reason, we require all players to register themselves when they truly feel ready — no gifting memberships. Thanks for understanding!

We love jammin’ in person, especially when the weather is nice! We run a wood stove in the winter and evaporative coolers in the summer to help keep everyone comfy in our outdoor space.

That said, sometimes it’s good to have the option to move the party online. We generally host group classes online under the following circumstances:

Temperatures below freezing or exceeding 100° F

Air quality exceeds 130 AQI (high orange)

Icy roads

High winds

The health of our musical community is our absolute priority. We closely monitor current health guidelines and are adapt our teaching practices accordingly to keep our studio safe. We will always offer online learning options for our members both near and far.

In-person classes are conducted with spacing, HEPA air purification, and maximum ventilation. Masks are currently optional.

Our continual teaching adaptations have been featured nationally by Good Morning America, and locally by KTVB and the Boise Weekly.