You pick your schedule! We’ll contact you with orientation materials about two weeks before your season’s start date. After orientation you can log into your profile and start selecting your class times via the calendar in your online studio profile.

You’ll sign up for the following for every song cycle:

• ONE voice group (60 minutes, optional live tutorial)

• ONE lesson (45 minutes)

• ONE campfire (60 minutes)

This means you’ll receive the following over the course of a season:

• SIX TOTAL voice groups (optional live tutorials)

• SIX TOTAL lessons (1:1 or family, depending on your membership)

• SIX TOTAL campfires (guided group sessions)

Want to see an example of the studio calendar? This is a pretty typical Song Cycle schedule. Here is a breakdown of events:

• Voice Group (shown in pink): this optional live coaching tutorial is always offered the first Monday at 5:45 OR Tuesday at noon.

• Lessons (shown in blue): times vary — typically Sunday through Thursday, noon to 7:00 P.M.

• Campfires (shown in purple): times vary — typically Sunday through Tuesday, 2:00 to 7:00 P.M. We adjust occasionally for holidays and such.

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!

Membership is open to adults of any age, and to families with players aged 13 and up.

Please note: teen players must enroll with a participating parent. Here’s why…

First and foremost, we believe music is meant to be shared. Second, a parent willing to play, learn, and grow alongside their teen creates a supportive home environment. At our studio, we want everyone to feel free to take musical risks and celebrate the learning process, while emphasizing experiences and exploration over outcomes.

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. 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 welcome to hear from our players before starting your season. Or, check out the Campfire Club if you already have a bit of musical experience and would like an option with less commitment.

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; it’s pretty cool 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

Instrument Resources:

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:

• Song Overview and Listening Playlist

• 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 transposed for treble, alto, and bass clef)

• 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! 😉).

Group Voice Coaching:

This optional live tutorial features:

• Guided Listening Session

• Songwriting Discussion

• Group Singalong

Over the course of a 60 minute session we’ll:

• Break down the song’s key elements and apply approachable techniques

• Help you unlock your unique voice and expand your range via:

  • Current vocal brain science from the NeuroVocal Method ™

  • Somatics from Meisner in Music

  • Grounding practices from Trauma Informed Singing

You’ll also receive:

• Video Replay

• Isolated Vocal Warmups

• Backing Tracks

1:1 Lesson

Now that you have some background on the studio song, let’s dive a little deeper. Join us for a personalized 1:1 lesson and unlock all the musical goodness you’ve been dying to learn! We’ll help you find the perfect part for your instrument, playing level, and musical interests. Our ultimate goal is to get you playing quickly and comfortably (as in, with confidence and great ergonomics!); we’ll provide scalable options so you’ll have something to play immediately, as well as options for the future to try as you learn and grow.

Want to learn songs of your own choosing at your 1:1 lesson? We can do that, too! The studio song will serve as a bridge between our curriculum and your favorite music. Maybe your musical idol is a great finger-pickin’ guitarist; we’ll show you how to apply finger-style playing on the studio song (or whatever musical equivalent makes your unique heart sing!).

Want to play the studio song at home with your family? We’ll walk you through everything step-by-step so you can lead your own jam sessions. Or better yet, add your family to your membership so we can coach y’all together!

Campfire Session

This is where the real magic happens! After two weeks of playing around with your chosen part of the studio song, we put it all together as a group. This is a class, not a rehearsal or performance; we’ll 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 indefinitely with your friends and family.

Absolutely! Let’s dive in…

Guitar: We teach adults of all levels to play both acoustic guitar and electric guitar; either 6-string guitar or 12-string guitar. We provide a guitar tutorial video and guitar chord chart PDF for each studio song, as well as a universal strumming tutorial video.

Need a rental? We have a variety of guitars available to rent in a variety of styles and sizes!

Ukulele: We teach adults of all levels to play soprano ukulele, concert ukulele, tenor ukulele, and baritone ukulele. We provide a standard-tuning ukulele tutorial video and ukulele chord chart PDF for each studio song, as well as a universal strumming tutorial video. Baritone ukulele players can utilize the guitar resources.

Need a rental? We have ukuleles available to rent in a variety of styles and sizes!

Mandolin: We teach adults of all levels to play standard mandolin and octave mandolin. We provide a mandolin tutorial video and mandolin chord chart PDF for each studio song, as well as a universal strumming tutorial video.

Need a rental? We have mandolins available to rent!

Banjo: We teach adults of all levels to play 5-string banjo, 6-string banjo, and banjolele. We provide a 5-string banjo tutorial video and ukulele chord chart PDF for each studio song, as well as a universal strumming tutorial video. Banjolele players can utilize the ukulele resources; 6-string banjo players can utilize the guitar resources.

Need a rental? We have 5-string banjos available to rent!

Bass Guitar: We teach adults of all levels to play both acoustic bass guitar and electric bass guitar. We provide a bass guitar tutorial video and bass guitar chord note PDF for each studio song. We’ll also occasionally create custom bass tabs depending on the song concepts.

Drum Set and Cajón: We teach adults of all levels to play acoustic drum set, electric drum set, cajón (“box drum”), and percussion. We provide a drum set, cajón/percussion video tutorial for each studio song.

Need a rental? We have electric drum kits and cajóns available to rent!

Piano and Keyboard: We teach adults of all levels to play piano and keyboard. We provide a piano video tutorial, piano chord chart PDF, and sheet music in treble clef with suggested piano riffs for each studio song.

Need a rental? We have keyboards available to rent!

Violin and Fiddle: We teach adults of all levels to play violin and fiddle. We provide a violin video tutorial and sheet music in treble clef with suggested violin riffs for each studio song.

Need a rental? We have a variety of violins available to rent!

Viola and 5-String Violin: We teach adults of all levels to play viola and 5-string violin. We provide a universal violin and viola video tutorial, and sheet music in alto clef with suggested viola riffs for each studio song.

Cello: Adults of intermediate level or beyond are welcome to play cello in our studio. We provide sheet music in bass clef with suggested cello riffs for each studio song (no video tutorials).

Harmonica: We teach adults of all levels to play diatonic harmonica and blues harmonica. Due to the specific key requirements of this instrument, we require all harmonica players to pick a secondary instrument from the list above (no video tutorials or print resources).

Fun fact: our studio songs are suggested by our players! It’s one of the wonderful things that makes our studio a true collective. We all delight in the process of learning a variety of new artists and genres, and creating our own unique interpretation of a song.

We’ll choose any song for our studio curriculum that’s enjoyable to play around a campfire; this usually means something in the folk, rock, or pop genres. 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.

That said, we quite enjoy the challenge of arranging an unexpected song to be played campfire-style on folk instruments. Our community has a blast learning songs ranging anywhere from P!nk to Temple of the Dog. This is why our unofficial studio slogan is “Does It Banjo?” Join us to find out!

We do, indeed! Our Campfire Club is for adults (age 18+) who are at a novice level or beyond. This program follows our Song Cycle method — you’ll receive all the same musical goodness with the exception of 1:1 lessons.

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 feel truly ready — no gifting memberships. Thanks for understanding!

We do, indeed!

Every season we offer two memberships with a partial scholarship (25-50%) for adults and families who need a bit of financial support.

We also offer a Pay-What-You-Can sliding scale for our Campfire Club (for adults who are at a novice playing level or beyond).

Please email us to apply for either program, or let us know if you’d like to contribute to the scholarship fund!

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, we pride ourselves in being adaptable; the show must go on! We generally switch our group classes to an online livestream under the following circumstances:

Temperatures below freezing or exceeding 100° F

Air quality exceeding 150 AQI

High winds, lightning, or icy roads

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 (which is especially crucial for vocal health!). We will always offer online learning options for our members both near and far.

Our in-person spaces feature HEPA air filters, Far-UVC sanitation lamps, CO2 level monitoring, and maximum ventilation.

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