Music Composition & Songwriting
Registration Details:
- Program Dates: June 21 - 26, 2026
- Cost: $1,460
- Eligibility: Open to rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors
- Tuition Includes: Lodging, meals, course materials, activities, and excursions
- Housing & Dining: Students reside in campus residence hall and dine in campus dining hall
- Deposit & Payment: A $500 deposit is required at registration, with the remaining balance due by May 1, 2026. After that date, full payment is required upon registration. Click here to view our cancellation policy.
- Enrollment: Open until all spaces are filled
- Registration: Registration is through the Camp Doc platform. Detailed step-by-step registration instructions are available here.
Original Music Creation & Performance Intensive
Develop creative and performing skills through composition, song-writing, and improvisation exercises. Create original music individually, and compose music collaboratively with other students. Perform original and improvised music on your instrument/voice. The week will culminate in a performance of a new, original musical work.
Program Topics
- The Creative Process
- Composition/Songwriting
- Musical Performance
- Collaboration
- Creative Placemaking
Hands on Learning
- Create original music, individually and collaboratively
- Perform original and improvised music on your instrument/voice
- Participate in discussions about music in society and community
- Experiment with your musical voices in exercises designed to stretch their creative muscles
Sample Schedule:
| Morning | 8 a.m. – Breakfast 9 a.m. – Collaborative songwriting workshop 12 p.m. – Lunch & free time |
| Afternoon | 1 p.m. – Perform original music on your instrument/voice |
| Evening | 5 p.m. – Dinner 6:30 p.m. – Activities / Recreation / Free Time Options could include: sand volleyball, Asheville Tourists game, game night, movie 11 p.m. – Lights out |
Meet Your Faculty
Originally from New Hampshire, Emily Mariko Eng is a Lecturer at the University of North Carolina – Asheville. She recently earned a DMA in Conducting from the University of Georgia, where she studied with Cynthia Johnston Turner. Emily holds an MM in Conducting from New England Conservatory and a BS in Biochemistry and Music Composition from Brandeis University. Her research and artistic interests include fostering comprehensive musicianship in the college music curriculum, exploring the role of conductor-as-facilitator in the collaborative creative process, and creative placemaking.
As conductor, Emily’s experience spans genres, often crossing out of the classical sphere into popular and contemporary music. Notably, Emily was involved with the Athens Hip Hop Harmonic at its inception, serving as conductor for its inaugural set of performances and recordings.
Emily is Executive Director and Founder of Lift Music Fund, a nonprofit organization that makes achievement in music more accessible and equitable by awarding microgrants every month to BIPOC student musicians.
Questions? Please contact us at precollege@unca.edu.