Phone Calls To and From Students During Camp

Students are permitted to use cell phones to receive or make calls or texts during certain hours of the day. Parents who wish to contact NCFC students during the week can call their child’s cell phone; callers during non-phone use hours should leave a voice mail or text, and your student can return calls during cell phone use hours.  Barring illness or emergency, students are discouraged from calling home more than once or twice during the camp session. To reach a member of the NCFC staff, call 925-964-7229. For emergencies only: Hidden Valley Seminars Phone is 831-659-3115. 

Snail Mail and E-Mail 

Students may receive “snail mail” during the camp session if it is sent to them at the following address: NCFC, c/o HVMS, P.O. Box 116, Carmel Valley, CA 93924.  You may address questions to our staff via email at flutecamp@hotmail.com. During the week of camp, email messages sent to flutecamp@hotmail.com are for NCFC staff only. To contact your child, the best means is via their cell phone.

Check-in/Placement Auditions 

Students should arrive on campus on June 15th between 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM, and procede to the registration desk in Wright Hall (follow the signs). Our support staff will check you in, provide you with materials for the week, and show you to your room. (Please: Do not enter bedrooms until you have checked in first! Rooms are assigned.) Students will be given time to unpack, unwind, and warm-up before they are escorted to their placement audition.

Check-out and items left on campus

All students are expected to vacate campus after the concert on June 23^rd.  (No post-concert barbecue this year, as there is another incoming program immediately on our heels.) The final concert begins at 11:00 AM that day; all activities will be completed by about 1:00 P.M.  Students should be made aware that any personal items left at Hidden Valley after camp will NOT BE RETURNED, and should use extra care in looking after items during the week and when packing. 

Why Does Camp Work?

Families frequently tell us how much their child grew while away at camp. Why is that? Camp works because family members are not there. Children progress because they have ample opportunities to really learn and to work things out for themselves. Camp invites exploration and play, encourages manageable risk-taking, and helps develop community and relationship skills. Camp is a safe place to make mistakes and find gratification for having survived and managed through those mistakes.

NCFC operates entirely as a closed campus this year, with the exception of Alberto Almarza’s master class on June 21st and the final concert on June 26h. We appreciate having this policy honored and upheld.

Policy on Off-Season Private Student Acceptance

Each year after camp, our faculty members receive inquiries from NCFC students regarding entering into year-round private study in our teaching studios. In the interest of maintaining mutually supportive relationships with non-NCFC-affiliated teachers and in upholding an ethical environment in the greater flute community, NCFC teachers are not permitted to accept camp students into their private studios, unless the following conditions exist:

The student’s current teacher voluntarily contacts the NCFC teacher and requests that the student switch teachers, or;

The student leaves the original teacher and studies with a non-NCFC-affiliated teacher for at least six months. If the student is still interested in studying with an NCFC faculty member after the six month period is over, the NCFC faculty member can then accept the student, or;

The student attends a college or university in which the NCFC teacher serves on the flute faculty.

We appreciate not being asked to make exceptions to these terms. Thank you for your cooperation.