Do you play pan, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, flute, clarinet, keyboards, percussion, guitar or bass? Or do you sing? Are you currently in secondary school? Perhaps you recently completed SEA examinations and are about to enter Secondary School? Maybe you are a recent Secondary School graduate? Do you wish to enhance your musical skills with a 5-week intensive programme of sight-reading, harmony, ear-training, technique, ensemble playing, theatre arts, local music history and a host of other courses to support the development of your musical talents? The Camp experience includes a field trip to an exciting destination.If you tick any of these boxes, birdsong Academy may be the place for you when school closes this term.

From July 11-August 13, 2016 birdsong Academy will host its 13thannual Vacation Music Camp. The camp is conducted from 8am-4pm Mondays through Fridays at venues in the Tunapuna community, including the birdsong panyard, the UWI St Augustine campus and Tapia House. Because of limited places, admission is by audition. These take place on Thursday May 26, 2016 and Monday May 30, 2016, 9am - 1pm. The venue for the auditions is the birdsong panyard at the corner of St Vincent and Connell Streets in Tunapuna. No charges apply for audition, tuition nor the use of instruments. 

Currently in its 12th year, under the auspices of birdsong, a registered non-profit organization with charitable status, birdsong Academy is a free music education programme targeting teenaged youth. It is a year-round programme, including a 5-week July/August Vacation Camp, accommodating 110 children in the East-West Corridor. The programme is already bearing tangible fruit to its most important constituents – at risk youth. Supported by birdsong’s Scholarship Fund, one alumnus will this year complete undergraduate music study whilst another is engaged in post graduate study at universities in the US and Holland respectively. Yet another is pursuing medicine in the Republic of Georgia. Several alumni are enrolled locally in tertiary level music programmes. Yet others have established careers in local Service bands.