Little Steven's Blues School

Little Steven’s Blues School

Notodden Blues Festival has organized a band seminar for young people every summer since 1989.

That makes Notodden Blues Festival’s Blues Seminar the most successful and longest-running music initiative of its kind for this age group. Among previous participants, you can find successful artists such as Amund Maarud, Kid Andersen, Odd Nordstoga, Vegard Tveitan, etc. In the summer of 2015, we were visited by Steven van Zandt, “Little Steven”, known among others as guitarist in Bruce Springsteen’s E. Street Band and from the TV series “Lilyhammer”. He is strongly involved in work for young people and music education in the USA and has, among other things, founded The Rock and Roll Forever Foundation (RRFF) with Little Steven, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Jackson Browne and Martin Scorsese on the board. The collaboration with Little Steven has increased the attractiveness and further strengthened the content of this unique music offering. With the transition to Little Steven’s Blues School, Notodden Blues Festival has entered into a partnership with the European Blues Senter. Among other things, this has led to us being able to expand the offer and arrange two courses with different target groups. Band Camp 1 (ages 13 – 18) is based on the existing and well-proven model, and Band Camp 2 for slightly older youth (ages 19 – 26), which is an offer for advanced students and is aimed at a musical career.

Band Camp 1:
Target group: 13 – 18 years Place: Heddal ungdomskole, Notodden, Norway Dates 2022: August 1st – 6th Number of participants: approx. 40 Course fee: NOK 3,500 The seminar is organized at Heddal secondary school. There, all the participants play, sleep and eat together all week. Interaction is the cornerstone of the scheme. The participants are divided into bands and work on arranging songs, songwriting, digital tools and genre knowledge. You can get some individual guidance if you wish. During the week, we will be visited by some of the festival’s artists, and we will go into the city to experience one of the big festival concerts. The seminar ends with a concert on the live stage in Bok & Blueshuset on Saturday morning.

Link Band Camp 1: Registration form Band camp 1

Band Camp 2:
Target group: 18 – 26 years old Location: Notodden Bok&Blueshus; Kulturskolen’s premises + Juke Joint Studio Dates 2022: August 1st – 5th Number of participants: approx. 30 Course fee: NOK 4,500 Notodden Bok & Blueshus was opened in November 2014 and contains Notodden cultural school, Juke Joint Studio, blues museum, live stage with fixed sound/light rig and NBF’s office premises, in addition to cinema halls and a library. We will use Notodden Cultural School’s premises, which include 4 fully equipped rehearsal rooms for bands plus a number of smaller rehearsal rooms, in addition to the Juke Joint Studio for rehearsal and recording. If you need accommodation, you will be given a place to sleep at Notodden upper secondary school, the closest neighbor to Bok & Blueshuset. Band Camp 2 has a higher course fee due to musical training and recording in the Juke Joint Studio as an important part of the seminar.

Link Band Camp 2: Registration form Band Camp 2

Both seminars:
Organized by Notodden Blues Festival
Application deadline: June 20th. juni

The course fee covers the costs of all course content, i.e. for instruction, board and lodging. In addition, you get a festival pass. Just come to Notodden and bring your instrument, and we’ll take care of the rest.

MORE INFORMATION

Little Steven’s Blues School takes in maximum 40 participants at Band Camp 1 and 30 at Band Camp 2 within what we call rhythmic music genres. If you sing, play a band instrument or wind instrument, don’t hesitate. Submit the application form today.