Each day will be broken up into a series of playing sessions focused on technical development and ensemble skills, learning charts, developing visuals, masterclasses with out featured instructors and heaps more. 

We are still working on the final timetable for the 2024, but each day will run from roughly 10:00am – 4:30pm with plenty of breaks / down time in between. Oh, and heaps of drumming of course!

When we first started the National Drumline Camp way back in 2011, it was a camp in every sense of the word…

School dorm style-accomodation, bad food, a lovely regional location – all the best and worst parts of a camp!

As the years progressed and the camp got bigger, it became harder and harder to manage the event in a literal camp format. In addition to this, our costs kept skyrocketing. 

To help make the camp more affordable as well as reduce the workload on our wonderful volunteer team, we decided to move to a non-residential formal in all states in 2024. 

So it’s still the National Drumline Camp in name -with all the great parts of the incredible event that has been running for over a decade – but you don’t have to eat bad food and stay in dorms. It’s a win win!

The National Drumline Camp is aimed at musicians of all skill levels and experience. You don’t have to have played in a drumline before and you do not have to have much musical experience.

As a general rule, we recommend you have at least one year of playing experience under your belt to ensure that you have already covered basic concepts such as grip/technique, reading basic music notation and have begun to develop an understanding of rhythm.

In the past, we have had students who have only just begun their musical journey, right through to world champion pipeband drummers looking to try something new.

If you are at all unsure, please Contact Us to discuss your background.

Not at all. Most of the music you play during the camp will be distributed 1 week before the start of the camp. You will not be expected to turn up knowing your music, but this will give you a chance to at least have a quick look through it before you start to get a feel for what you’ve gotten yourself into!

For the duration of the camp, you will be paired with instructors and other campers who can help you work through any music and learn any sections that you find difficult.

While we do want to challenge people and push them to become better musicians, we are very conscious of making sure everyone has an enjoyable experience and does not feel ‘in over their head’. If you find any of the music to hard, you just need to let us know – there are plenty of options available to help out.

No. While it is most common for drumlines to play snare with traditional grip, this is not a requirement for the National Drumline Camp. You are welcome to choose whatever grip you are most comfortable with.

Yes. The minimum age for the National Drumline Camp is 11 years old.

That said, we are always open to discussing individual circumstances. Please feel free to Contact Us if you wish to discuss enrolling a student younger than the minimum age. 

There is definitely no maximum age, but a reasonable level of physical fitness is required. Attendees will spend a large part of the day standing / playing and will also need to be able to carry their drum from rehearsal location to rehearsal location.   

We take the care and supervision of our younger participants very seriously. For the duration of the camp, each attendee under the age of 18 will be assigned a member of staff to look after them and be their go-to mentor. All members of staff must have a working with children check and have been vetted by the organisers to ensure they are a good fit for the job.

We aren’t able to help with transport to / from the camp each day, however if you have any questions or concerns on this front please feel free to reach out. We’ll do whatever we can to help problem solve and make the event accessible to all. 

Yes, we are certainly willing to look at trying to help groups out with a special deal or find some way to make it easier for them to get to the NDC. Please ask a representative from your group to get in touch with us to discuss what we can do to help.