North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance Inc

SummerSongs is a community for singer songwriters to feel supported emotionally and technically to pursue the passion of making original music. The camps are the main event, happening twice per year on both coasts. This community has been instrumental for me in finding the motivation to write and perform my original music in an environment of encouragement, technical expertise, and friendship; with classes on song crafting, guitar playing, harmony, performance, as well as a wonderful venue to meet other musicians. This is my musical family, a special group of extraordinarily talented and fun-loving folks. I'm a lifer!

My name is Sheldon, singer for 45 years now mostly in jazz, opera, and classical. My greatest yearning has always been to express my deepest feelings through singing (opera can be really good for that). I tried for years to write my own songs but always hit a wall and gave up. After 911, I just lost the desire to sing anything but what was closest to me (and not in any foreign language), so I essentially stopped performing. And then I found Summersongs songwriting camp! In an environment of such profound support, encouragement, skill, fun, and inspiration I broke through a thick wall called "I can't" and now find "I can" write songs that express my deepest yearnings and I love performing them. This has made an incredibly big shift in my life in all aspects. I continue to go to the Summersongs songwriting camps for the loving supportive community, extreme joy and valuable knowledge that helps me express myself in my own unique way.

While best known as a songwriters’ organization, Summersongs helped me beyond measure in performance skills, from introducing a song to microphone techniques, to making connection to the audience, to gracious acknowledgement of applause. I learned vocal exercises that I use without fail before performances or recording. I received advice that helped me fine-tune songs that were accepted on a major label as well as independent labels. I learned recording techniques that changed my whole approach to the process. Summersongs is the whole package, taught by some of my most admired and stunningly skilled professionals. It is also a loving, accepting music community, offering gentle guidance with positive reinforcement led by proven recording artists and performers. Summersongs is an unforgettable experience in every way.

Summersongs Songwriting Camp changed my life and in turn I have been empowered to reach out and effect change in my own community! Founder and director Penny Nichols created a model for how to run a songwriting camp that is the most effective I have ever experienced. Beyond improving my songwriting and performing, it inspired me to form a local songwriter's group based on her model and then to found an acoustic performance venue that also serves to benefit a local not-for-profit land conservation trust. Artists that perform at the venue also conduct workshops for our community at our venue (as well as in the public schools) which are similar to those I attended at Summersongs. What is so special about Penny Nichol's model? Summersongs provides an emotionally safe environment for artists to take risks and test their limits. Commentary must be solicited directly by each artist according to their desire for input - and when it is given it must always be constructive and kind. The faculty is strictly held accountable to maintain this environment in their classes as well as in song circles. Also, mutual respect for each musician's abilities and artistry is encouraged by requiring everyone that participates in a song circle to listen to everyone in the circle if they are to participate in a round. What happens over the course of camp is quite remarkable. I have seen so many lives enhanced and enriched not only by the musical gifts that are shared and developed at camp, but also by the sense of community and the deep friendships that are formed over the years by the participants that attend. I have never seen anything quite like it. The many connections and friendships I've made continue throughout the year. What attendees learn in camp they take back to their communities, empowered to make a difference where they live. In the future I am looking toward to starting a similar songwriting camp here in Florida. After each camp we all fill out comment sheets giving feedback on the faculty, our personal experiences, and suggestions for improving the camp experience. It is clear from my years of going to camp that those suggestions are carefully considered and acted upon if deemed appropriate. Over time they have found a strong faculty base to draw on and are always trying new faculty after careful screening. The decisions to have faculty come back are very much based on the experience of the campers with those members. Please consider granted an award to Summersongs Songwriting Camp for it's role is promoting the arts while empowering artists to promote the arts in their own communities.

SummerSongs is a life-changing paradise for songwriters, poets, singers, seekers, and lovers. Set in pristine land in upstate NY (and now in Cambria, Cali), SummerSongs opened me up at a critical time of my life, when I was trying to reconnect with my creative self. Communing with nature, surrounded by open, humble, creative, and giving artists--teachers and students alike--SummerSongs is a nurturing community that will inspire and humble you. From professionals to beginners, SummerSongs has something for everybody, but mostly it is an accepting and giving community of creative people. It will change your life too. Twelve years and one precious CD later, I am forever grateful to founder Penny Nichols and all the beautiful people that stoke the flames of this bonfire of humanity. : ) http://www.reverbnation.com/fredarcoleo

Largely because of this group, I started singing again, and all the things that follow a voice re-opened! This is a very worthy, enormously talented group!

I first heard about SummerSongs from its founder, Penny Nichols, but was a bit skeptical that it could be as good as she claimed. After finally making the trip to upstate New York from California, I realized that I had found something so precious that I wanted to go back again and again. So I did. Now I teach at the SummerSongs West and WinterSongs West camps in Cambria, California, and donate money to the foundation when I can afford it. Our job on staff there is to encourage the campers in whatever ways they need to be encouraged. This is not a "music industry" camp where we criticize songs that are not hits, but rather a personal creativity camp where each participant is encouraged to write songs, perform them, and grow in the process. And since everyone is in the same boat, so to speak, the camaraderie and friendships formed are strong and lasting. And there is no boundaries between students and teachers - we are all students at camp! I also find that helping others reach their musical goals has the unexpected result of boosting my own creative output.

SUMMERSONGS -- I first heard about Summersongs, by word-of-mouth, from a friend I had met while serving as a band videographer years back. She said that this songwriting camp was the perfect vehicle to get out from behind my camera and start writing and performing like I had always wanted. Up until then, I didn't know how to even get started writing songs or performing in front of other people. In fact, I wasn't sure I had the "right stuff" to even do this, figuring that musicians were born, not made. But I wanted to learn, and from what I was told, Summersongs was a warm, nurturing community to start learning, making some mistakes in a non-judging environment, and growing step-by-step. With a little healthy skepticism, I signed-up for a camp, fully expecting that it couldn't be as perfect as billed. But I figured it was better than just sitting around wishing I could change. What i found, at my first camp in the summer of 2008, was an eye-opener -- a beautiful camp setting in the NY Catskills, and even more important, beautiful people who loved music and loved sharing their knowledge about it. That week, I learned how to approach writing songs and, just as importantly, how to break my writer's block (which often struck me at the time). I learned to accept my own musical vision and my own style as worthwhile while bringing it out from my heart and mind to my voice and guitar. I learned that I COULD change and even progress at my own pace, all the while having a blast! I have been a regular at camp ever since, treasuring it as much as a learning time as a social reunion with kindred spirits. More than that, I have started taking my music and performing it outside of camp for others who now look at me and say, "I wish I could do that, but...." I can honestly and open-heartedly recommend Summersongs to them and anyone else looking for a change to do just as I did -- live my dreams, grow, have fun, and pass the helping hand to others.

I have been attending Summersongs camps since 2008 and they have had a profound effect on my musical journey. Penny Nichols has created a wonderfully supportive group of instructors who not only are masters at their crafts but will nurture your soul as they help you grow musically.

I have been a songwriter on and off for my whole life, but in recent years,as with so many other people and things, it got relegated to the back burner. Going to SummerSongs totally revivified this ancient interest, plus I got wonderful advice and coaching, and the incredible experience of being in the midst of a warm caring community where it was totally safe to try things out.

I had never written a song when I attended this camp for a weekend - but I did like to sing, strum my guitar, and play around with words. The people I met were incredibly warm and gracious, even to a "nobody" like me. I was readily swooped up in their energy and found myself connecting with my Musical Muse to write and sing my OWN words. I can't wait until my next chance to attend. GO: They welcome one and all and will change your orientation toward words and music forever. SummerSongs is nothing less than a magical experience.

I have been attending SummerSongs songwriting camps since August 2003...I've lost count of how many I've been to! It has been an amazing place with inspirational teachers, wonderful community, opportunities to perform and a beautiful environment to write songs, commune with nature, take long walks, sing with friends, eat great food and so much more.

I've now attended three SummerSongs camps and can't wait until my next chance. This camp bills itself as a songwriters' camp, but it is so much more. I've learned more about my voice, my instrument and my craft in the few short days I've been amongst this incredible company of artists than at any other time in my life. SummerSongs promises it will make you a better songwriter, better vocalist, better musician, but in my heart I know, it has made me a better person.

SummerSongs is an organization dedicated to the craft of songwriting. It holds camps in both the Ashokan area of NY and California. Students come from all over the United States to be taught songwriting, performing, how to handle the creative muse and tons of other topics. Classes are taught by masters who are well-respected in their fields and those instructors are known for being accessible and giving of their time and talents to their students. Bonds between the students are forged that can be lifelong in nature, providing support to each other, as well as perhaps providing the opportunity to co-write songs together. People who have attended SummerSongs find that they have grown beyond their own expectations, and leave the camp feeling ready to go out in the other world of work and family with new connections to their creative talents. It's an experience not to be missed in you're a budding songwriter, a mature songwriter, or someone who has never written a song in their life but is ready to be open to the experience. There are other songwriting camps, there are other music camps, but there is only one SummerSongs and it is by far the best place to go in the songwriting field.

Summersongs was a profoundly life-changing experience for me, and continues to be an important source of community, support, learning and growth as a songwriter, teacher and musician. I will continue to recommend it to any and all songwriters or would-be songwriters that I meet as the single most important investment I ever made in myself as an artist. I showed up at camp recovering from cancer, shy and insecure. The support and encouragement I received there was so healing and inspiring. I have seen the most beautiful flowering of people's gifts again and again at camp, as we writers are given a safe and supportive environment to grow in. I cannot measure the camp's total impact on my life, but I sure wouldn't want to live without it.

The benefits of attending Summersongs and Wintersongs are virtually impossible to compute, because they extend far beyond the time spent at camp. Like ripples on the surface of a lake, the experience spreads ever-outward, engendering safety, creativity and caring in places where danger, rigidity and apathy had ruled the day. People have described Summersongs and Wintersongs as "life-changing," "heavenly" and "transcendent."Although such descriptions are indeed accurate, in truth there are no words adequate to describe the magic of the experience.

I am a developing singer songwriter, who has been doing it for many years. I have attended classes, workshops, retreats in various locales and with various objectives. Some were more oriented to competing commercially, others more directed at art and self development, some straddling all those. Above and beyond any I've attended are the summersongs/wintersongs camps. They are creative, friendly and have teachers that are highly talented, experienced, understand appreciative inquiry and student directed learning, and comfortable working with learners at many different levels of expertise in music, performance and writing. Penny Nichols who is both a vastly experienced singer songwriter and has a Doctorate in Education applies a low key but intensely thoughtful education design and style that I find is amazingly effective and bringing about growth in all the areas of being a singer songwriter. These camps work really well for students who want to write and sing songs for their own sake but also are very effective for singers developing a professional career. In addition to all the above, the camps are great for group bonding and supportive networking, which are as vital for developing musicians as are the performance and technical aspects of musicianship and writing. In the last 5 years, I've watched many participants go from shy novices to developing stars. I think Penny Nichols' work in organizing and teaching these camps is exemplary and deserves major notice from the world of musical pedagogy. These camps are also kick ass fun.

What Penny Nichols has started is nothing less than a movement to preserve and maintain the art of Songwriting in this country! Bravo Penny! Leslie Beauvais

SummerSongs is a spirited, supercharged Brigadoon for players, singers, writers and enthusiasts of folk, Americana, and all kinds of acoustic music. In summer and winter, when we gather at camp, we rediscover our passion, we connect with our community, and we learn from each other and from people just like us who have taken their art and craft farther down the road. I have attended four summer and four winter camps, and each time, I took away new friendships, new insights into my own music-making, and red eyes from the sleepless nights of playing and singing and sharing. There is nothing else quite like it.

This camp has changed my life. I first started attending two years ago, and I know am hooked for life! The staff and teachers are talented, experienced, and nurturing. The creative energy has fostered my soul and inspired me to follow my passion. The environment is not only emotionally nurturing and safe, but it is physically rejuvenating and healthy. I have made true friends who will be with me a lifetime. That is priceless.

Summersongs is a life changing experience. I first went 10 years ago to check out the songwriting camp. I haven't missed one since. It offers amazing support and education. The instructors are amazing, the community is welcoming and supportive, and everyone within the community takes every opportunity to lift up and support new attendees. The vision of Penny Nichols, founder, is truly a life long gift to everyone who signs up for Summersongs or Wintersongs. I recommend it to anyone who wants to further enhance their creativity.

I have to say that Summersongs literally changed my life. When I went for the first time, I had been a dilettante, writing songs as a hobby for many years but never taking myself or my work seriously. The positive feedback and helpful techniques I learned at Summersongs made me see myself as a singer-songwriter and gave me the courage to make a CD (I'm now working on my second one), and to go after gigs I never thought I could get. I have learned invaluable lessons in songwriting, performing, vocal techniques, and the music business. But more than that, I've reveled in the beautiful spirit of love and acceptance that permeates Summersongs. There's no rivalry or competitiveness; everyone wants to see everyone else succeed and they all give each other encouragement and helpful suggestions. I've made wonderful, lifelong friends there from among both the staff and the other students.

Some of the best time I have ever spent in my life. A week with wonderful supportive and talented teachers, delightful fellow students and great music. The songs that come out of students are joyous and inspirational. I have learned so much at SummerSongs camp and developed as a writer and performer tremendously. I enthusiastically support the mission of SS, which is to stimulate the musical voice of the people. LOVE IT!!!

This camp is the most fantastic music, songwriting and uplifting experience anyone could ask for. The teaching staff is patient and creative in their approach, and the participants are encouraging and talented! I have only been to three winter camps- but am planning to attend a summer camp this year. I highly recommend this camp for anyone wanting to start, improve or perfect their musical and songwriting skills.

I was a "newbie" (first-timer) at Summer Songs 2009 in Ashokan, N.Y. I heard about the songwriters' workshop from a friend and travelled from the Oregon Coast to attend. It was all my friend had promised and more. I came back, not only a better songwriter and musician, I came back a better person. I took classes in open tunings, guitar arrangement, vocal harmony, and performance all taught by warm, supportive professional performers. Offered, and I took advantage of the offer, was a "one-on-one" with any of the teaching staff. My experience with my "one-on-one partner was worth the trip across the country. I left the camp a with a new confidence in my songs and my performance, and a heightened energy to write, write, write.

I have attended three Wintersongs camps and two Summersongs camps and they have all been amazing experiences. The instructors are incredibly talented and generous with their time, and very supportive. I have grown so much as a songwriter, singer, musician but more importantly as a person. I'm basicly a shy person and the thought of singing before a large group of people was terrifying to me. Now, I look forward to performing and I find it a thrilling experience. I have found a wonderful community in Summersongs.

Without exaggeration, Summersongs has changed my life. I have grown from a beginner to a competent and confident songwriter under the inspired guidance of an exquisitely caring staff. The encouragement I received from both staff and fellow students has motivated me to keep doing the hard work it takes to gain the necessary skill to write better songs. Same goes for my improved performance skills.

I had a wonderful experience with this camp. The SummerSongs community is generous, kind, open, caring, supportive and CONSISTENT in all of these aspects, which is virtually unheard of in the 'real world'. As a music therapist, I find that I am continously present for my clients, and SummerSongs is continously present for me, in order to facilitate growth as an artist, therapist, student, overall, as a human being. In a very real way, SummerSongs provides the external aspects which are needed to promote and to actualize growth. What I provide for my clients, SummerSongs provides for me: unconditional postive regard, support and love, which a human being needs to thrive, as a songwriter and as a creative being. The experience of being a part of SummerSongs allowed me to integrate a part of myself into my work with my clients; I use songwriting as a part of my client groups more frequently and consistently. My view of myself as an artist and creative individual has also been integrated into my practice and into my life (slowly but surely). I cannot emphasize enough, in this review, the importance of realizing creative potential to the overall health and well being of a community. SummerSongs, if provided with the funds and the expanded opportunity to grow through the utilization of these funds, could reach so many more people, children as well as adults, who are robbed of the right to express themselves through unrealized creative and artistic potential. The educational system in the U.S. no longer supports arts in education and this lack of total integration is creating generations of people who do not have access to the arts as a naturally occuring creative expression, which is an essential part of the complete 'self'. Our culture, in essence, is cultivating incomplete human beings, when the creative aspect is split off from the total self. SummerSongs provides a loving, nurturing way for this imbalnce to be corrected and for creative potential to be realized, which benefits the individual, as well as community, in all aspects of life. Songwriting is essential to survival of a culture, it is an historical record of the times, as well as an expression of individual and collective human values. Songwriting allows us to trace our way back home to our source and in some cultures, is part of spiritual expression, e.g. Songlines in the Aboriginal culture. Songwriting is a form of helaing expression, it allows the writer to access feelings and impressions through the music and to pull these sometimes amorphous subconscious processes into consciousness. In this way, songwriting is therapuetic and the individual who engages in songwriting benefits from the clarity which can be a byproduct of this process. As a professional, songwriting is under utilized as a expressive intervention, but the benefits from engaging in this process are enormous. It is a form of 'self help' which the user can benefit from through his/her lifetime. I wish that more people knew about the power of songwriting!

SummerSongs is a gift that keeps on giving – and the SummerSongs experience is so inspiring, inclusive, supportive and tuned-in to the personal and vocational/avocational needs of the singer-songwriter community that it evokes an unbridled reflex of giving among its community members. Having attended several of the week-long and long-weekend gatherings beginning several years ago, I have not attended recent ones due to personal circumstances. And yet, at those few meetings, the community-building and cohesion was so strong, the teachings and support for songwriters and performers so spot on and the tangible spirit of generosity and camaraderie so distinct, that I feel the power of those few meeting still a part of me. Additionally, through the modeling of founder, Penny Nichols, and the extraordinary creativity and care evoked in attendees, I continue to feel part of the community, able to enthusiastically serve it and be served by it in my daily activities. I eagerly look forward to returning to the camps, themselves.

Summersongs... I have attended Summersongs, every year, since 2001. I do not play an instrument, nor do I read music....but I write lyrics and have the melody in my head. The instuctors and other students bring my songs to fruition. I even get my charts done for me so that I can have other musicians play my songs for me. I have never met a more caring or dedicated group of instructors. With their help I have written more than a dozen songs and recorded 5 of them. I have made some life-long friends. The New York camp site is wonderful. I plan all my vacation time around camp...it is the best vacation ever ! Fran Stone

Summersongs is a wonderful workshop/camp experience for musicians/singers/songwriters. It is a place where beginning and experienced musicians come together to share and experience the beautiful experiences of music, to teach and learn about how to write and compose songs and lyrics, and to strengthen musical bonds and community. One of the best parts of Summersongs is the inclusion of everyone, even people brand new to the music community. All levels are encouraged to share and grow in a supportive environment. Classes, performances, and small group opportunities are offered so everyone can share and experience the wonderful and valuable gift of music.

I discovered Summersongs five years ago and my only regret is not having discovered it five years earlier. Whenever I'm asked what I'm finding wonderful or inspiring in life, Summersongs is at the very top of the list. Spending a week with folks as passionate about songwriting as I am is always uplifting and energizing. Through the patient skills of their quality teaching staff, my own songwriting has steadily improved and become more deliberate. I've also brought friends to Summersongs who are now collaborating with me to create song circles and house concerts in our own community in Florida. The spacious acceptance and support that is offered by all the staff and fellow songwriters serves as a touchstone for how a loving community can be together. The ripple effects of this organization are many and far reaching, and I wouldn't miss my annual pilgrimage there for anything.

I adore Summersongs. I have been attending the week long summer sessions for 10 years and these are consistently among the most joyous weeks of my life. There is magic in being in a warm, loving, supportive community where each member is encouraged to emerge as an artist and performer. Without a doubt the best concerts I've ever attended are the Summersongs student shows. These concerts are abundant with love for music, art and the uniqueness and value of each and every artist. Each year a community is quickly formed. Every meal has the buzz of a high school or sleep away camp cafeteria. The coolest people come to this camp and I have made some dear friends through it. And this experience has given me the confidence develop as a singer/songwriter and go out into the world and share my music. That's fun! Steven Prasinos

SummerSongs/WinterSongs has been nothing short of life-changing! To find a community whose values reflect my own values - passion about music, love of other musicians and their creativity, expanding my own creativity, support and encouragement of striving musicians, on whatever level they are - has been priceless. I wish the world was more like the SummerSongs community, which brings so much joy, happiness, laughter, songs, creative expression of emotion, and learning from one another, to all of its members. We can choose from a variety of classes and workshops around songwriting and critiquing, singing and harmonizing, freeing one's creativity, guitar, piano accompaniment, performance, recording, and more. We sing for one another in a coffeehouse-like setting, jam together till the wee hours of the night, eat together, have great conversations together - just heavenly! It is so important to my husband and me to go to Summersongs/Wintersongs that we gladly sacrifice other things to be able to afford to go - I don't view this as a luxury, but as a necessity for us. We are so grateful to the founder, Penny Nichols, and the great staff she has put together, and to the marvelous "campers" who get together every year, sometimes several times a year, to create such a nurturing, healthy, loving environment for us all! Barbara

Over a ten-year period, I have learned an incredible amount about singing, guitar playing, performing, and the art of songwriting, msinly from a very professional faculty but also from exposure to the talents of other students. SummerSongs is a community of friends with a sustaining spirit that grows each year. Mike harrison