The Piano Wreckers' Ball
Cost
$495*
Where
Maxon Mills
37 Furnace Bank Road
Wassaic, NY 12592
When
July 26–30, 2027
Mon–Thur, 9:30 AM–3:30 PM
+ Fri 9:30 AM–4:30 PM
Who
Rising grades 5–9
Do you like to break stuff? Do you like to figure out how it worked before you broke it? Do you like building things that nobody’s ever imagined before? Do you like music?
If you answered yes to any of these questions then The Piano Wreckers’ Ball is for you! Now in its fifth year, join us for a Wassaic Project summer camp tradition! Alongside DJ and musician Tim Love Lee, we will carefully, but with great vigor, demolish old, donated pianos and other hunks of household junk and reassemble them into brand new instruments, or maybe even one giant mobile musical laboratory. After we’ve invented our new instruments, we’ll learn to play them and compose music for the end-of-summer extravaganza on August 14. No previous experience is necessary, but kids should be prepared to wield tools and get dirty!
* Campers will use tools such as drills and hand saws during the course of this camp — always under adult supervision, wearing personal protective equipment, and after receiving safety training. Please consider this when signing up for camp!
· · ·
* We have a no-questions-asked scholarship policy to ensure our education programming is accessible to everyone who wants to participate. If the cost of camp presents a significant financial barrier, please reach out to jill@wassaicproject.org for a partial or full scholarship. If you do so before December 18, we will send you a discount code before registration opens.
We will issue a refund minus 20% for cancellations received two weeks in advance of the camp start date. There will be no refunds of cancellation notices received within two weeks, as it is difficult for us to fill the spots on such close notice, and we operate within a narrow budget. We will waive this policy in the event of an emergency or hardship — please email jill@wassaicproject.org should you need to request this.
About the Instructor
Tim Love Lee, Music Director at the Wassaic Project, is an English musician, composer, record producer, DJ and A&R executive. He is the founder of Tummy Touch Records but is most notable as a pioneer of electronic dance music, his debut album having been highlighted in Fact magazine's 50 best trip hop albums of all time. Tim started out his professional career in music playing Hammond organ for 80s pop stars, Katrina & The Waves but it was as a DJ on the early UK Acid House scene that Lee really developed his skills as a “selector” of fine and far out music. Since then Tim's DJ skills have seen him host radio shows for Kiss FM, BBC Radio, KEXP, PS1 and he can currently be heard on NYC's East Village Radio. He has been invited to lecture and sit on panels including for events organized by The Red Bull Music Academy (in Florida and Dublin), Diesel (in London and New York), The Musicians' Union (in London), The UK Dept. of Trade & Industry (in Austin, Texas for SXSW), The British Council (in London).
Welcome to the town of Whatthewhat, a magical place in a steep valley where fairies build villages in tree roots, apples ripen to the color of indigo, and when you dig a hole in the ground, you never know where it will come out. The moon is always visible in the sky and the water flows uphill (except on Mondays). To enter and leave, you must tell a joke to the bridge troll Inan Doubt, and everyone trades in the blue rocks called slag strewn through the riverbeds. Pantyhose the Billy Goat roams the hills and the horses three, Charlemagne, Antoinette, and Bob, graze happily on the grassy slopes of Rattlesnake Mountain. Here dwell the Vagabond Time Killers, a group of kids expert at killin’ time, the wizard Azorazad who guards the top-secret time machine, and the Unruly Band of Renegade Music Makers, who perform never-before-heard works of music on never-before-seen instruments.
Each year, the rattlesnakes on Rattlesnake Mountain threaten to overtake Whatthewhat and claim it as their own. They demand an offering from somewhere distant in time and space to keep the peace in Whatthewhat. In the year of 2027, the rattlesnakes have requested that the Vagabond Time Killers retrieve the spare power plug from the Intergalactic Space Station on which all humans live in the year 4027!
Join the Vagabond Time Killers in restoring balance to the town of Whatthewhat. With the help (or sometimes hindrance) of Azorazad the Wizard, Pantyhose the Billy Goat, the troll Inan Doubt, the inventor Eddie, the mad emu Mother, the Unruly Band of Renegade Music Makers, the Keeper of the Rattlesnakes, Old Gray Beard, and many more friends, the Vagabond Time Killers will travel into the beyond. Will they succeed in their mission of retrieving the spare power plug? Only time will tell.
We need YOU to join on this adventure!
Related Events
The Piano Wreckers' Ball
Cost
$495*
Where
Maxon Mills
37 Furnace Bank Road
Wassaic, NY 12592
When
July 26–30, 2027
Mon–Thur, 9:30 AM–3:30 PM
+ Fri 9:30 AM–4:30 PM
Who
Rising grades 5–9
Do you like to break stuff? Do you like to figure out how it worked before you broke it? Do you like building things that nobody’s ever imagined before? Do you like music?
If you answered yes to any of these questions then The Piano Wreckers’ Ball is for you! Now in its fifth year, join us for a Wassaic Project summer camp tradition! Alongside DJ and musician Tim Love Lee, we will carefully, but with great vigor, demolish old, donated pianos and other hunks of household junk and reassemble them into brand new instruments, or maybe even one giant mobile musical laboratory. After we’ve invented our new instruments, we’ll learn to play them and compose music for the end-of-summer extravaganza on August 14. No previous experience is necessary, but kids should be prepared to wield tools and get dirty!
* Campers will use tools such as drills and hand saws during the course of this camp — always under adult supervision, wearing personal protective equipment, and after receiving safety training. Please consider this when signing up for camp!
* We have a no-questions-asked scholarship policy to ensure our education programming is accessible to everyone who wants to participate. If the cost of camp presents a significant financial barrier, please reach out to jill@wassaicproject.org for a partial or full scholarship. If you do so before December 18, we will send you a discount code before registration opens.
We will issue a refund minus 20% for cancellations received two weeks in advance of the camp start date. There will be no refunds of cancellation notices received within two weeks, as it is difficult for us to fill the spots on such close notice, and we operate within a narrow budget. We will waive this policy in the event of an emergency or hardship — please email jill@wassaicproject.org should you need to request this.
About the Instructor
Tim Love Lee, Music Director at the Wassaic Project, is an English musician, composer, record producer, DJ and A&R executive. He is the founder of Tummy Touch Records but is most notable as a pioneer of electronic dance music, his debut album having been highlighted in Fact magazine's 50 best trip hop albums of all time. Tim started out his professional career in music playing Hammond organ for 80s pop stars, Katrina & The Waves but it was as a DJ on the early UK Acid House scene that Lee really developed his skills as a “selector” of fine and far out music. Since then Tim's DJ skills have seen him host radio shows for Kiss FM, BBC Radio, KEXP, PS1 and he can currently be heard on NYC's East Village Radio. He has been invited to lecture and sit on panels including for events organized by The Red Bull Music Academy (in Florida and Dublin), Diesel (in London and New York), The Musicians' Union (in London), The UK Dept. of Trade & Industry (in Austin, Texas for SXSW), The British Council (in London).
Welcome to the town of Whatthewhat, a magical place in a steep valley where fairies build villages in tree roots, apples ripen to the color of indigo, and when you dig a hole in the ground, you never know where it will come out. The moon is always visible in the sky and the water flows uphill (except on Mondays). To enter and leave, you must tell a joke to the bridge troll Inan Doubt, and everyone trades in the blue rocks called slag strewn through the riverbeds. Pantyhose the Billy Goat roams the hills and the horses three, Charlemagne, Antoinette, and Bob, graze happily on the grassy slopes of Rattlesnake Mountain. Here dwell the Vagabond Time Killers, a group of kids expert at killin’ time, the wizard Azorazad who guards the top-secret time machine, and the Unruly Band of Renegade Music Makers, who perform never-before-heard works of music on never-before-seen instruments.
Each year, the rattlesnakes on Rattlesnake Mountain threaten to overtake Whatthewhat and claim it as their own. They demand an offering from somewhere distant in time and space to keep the peace in Whatthewhat. In the year of 2027, the rattlesnakes have requested that the Vagabond Time Killers retrieve the spare power plug from the Intergalactic Space Station on which all humans live in the year 4027!
Join the Vagabond Time Killers in restoring balance to the town of Whatthewhat. With the help (or sometimes hindrance) of Azorazad the Wizard, Pantyhose the Billy Goat, the troll Inan Doubt, the inventor Eddie, the mad emu Mother, the Unruly Band of Renegade Music Makers, the Keeper of the Rattlesnakes, Old Gray Beard, and many more friends, the Vagabond Time Killers will travel into the beyond. Will they succeed in their mission of retrieving the spare power plug? Only time will tell.
We need YOU to join on this adventure!
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