Lowcountry Saxophone Camp is dedicated to providing rigorous and highly enjoyable music instruction to young saxophonists in a summer day-camp setting, in beautiful coastal Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, just minutes from the beaches of Isle of Palms and Sullivans Island, SC. The first annual Lowcountry Saxophone Camp was held July 7-11, 2014, at Hungry Monk Music Studios in West Ashley, Charlest
on, SC. Our guest artist for the first camp was Mark Sterbank, masterful jazz artist and professor of saxophone and jazz studies at Charleston Southern University.
2015's second annual Lowcountry Saxophone Camp was held July 6-10, 2015 at the Palmetto Christian Academy school facilities of East Cooper Baptist Church, in Mount Pleasant, SC. Our week included guest teaching by several local saxophone player-music educators. Our guest artist for 2015 was Dan O'Reilly, busy gigging jazz-pop stylist and professor of saxophone at Coastal Carolina University. In 2016 the third annual Lowcountry Saxophone Camp was located at St. Paul's Lutheran church in the idyllic neighborhood of Old Village Mount Pleasant. We expanded our day from 3pm finish to 5:30pm finish to facilitate more rehearsal and playing, as well as more community time. Dr. Clifford Leaman, international soloist and professor of saxophone at the University of South Carolina, joined us as guest artist. For 2017's fourth annual Lowcountry Saxophone Camp, we hope to attain a wider reach of participants with the creation of the Advanced Young Player's Institute, a track of camp designed specifically for advanced youth saxophone students, which will exist alongside our traditional camper experience. As LSC plans for our fourth summer session, we are building on our three-year track record of excellent concept/skill pedagogy, meaningful and enjoyable music-making through saxophone literature, and great past guest artists. We are pleased to announce that Dr. Robert Young, of University of North Carolina School of the Arts, will join us as guest artist this summer, bringing his virtuoso playing and expert saxophone teaching to share with all our camp/institute attendees. Please share this page and get the word out! Pedagogical Approach and Teaching Philosophy:
Our approach considers the student campers' levels of developmental readiness and seeks to optimize learning in a positive, pro-social setting. We consider camper interests while aiming to inspire new areas of musical investigation and skill development. We build on the campers' developing musicianship by teaching concrete and essential skills and concepts for musical growth and the development of excellence in saxophone technique. We use student-centered workshops, live professional performances, and student chamber music rehearsals, coachings, and student performances to teach musicianship, musical styles, interpretation, and performance practice. Music for learning and performance during camp is intended to cover a variety of styles, and is carefully selected with student levels and appeal to their interests in mind. All Lowcountry Sax Campers, regardless of placement in the traditional camp experience or in the institute, will have an amazing week of the saxophone performance, musical growth and summer music camp camaraderie and fun which makes for warm, lasting memories. Sax students who attend camp in past summers want to return, for this reason. Placement in the Advanced Young Player's Institute track, as well as performance grouping assignments, will be determined based on an in-person audition. The bottom line for Lowcountry Saxophone Camp's approach is to insure that the campers have a rocking good time as well as to beef-up on their musical and instrumental skills!
