Hamptons Art Camp

Music, Art, Dance Summer Camp in the Hamptons, Lessons From a Book About Tennis

All of our arts camps and classes in Bridgehampton, NY - Rock Camp, Diving Into Art, Dance Intensive, Explore Ceramics, and Theater Workshop - are all about exploring each type of and having a whole lot of fun along the way. We want to inspire students and have them internalize how one can rise to new heights with curiosity, practice, and team work.

It’s also worth noting one’s positive attitude and headspace plays an important role when learning something new or improving upon what you already know. There is a book called the Inner Game of Tennis which dives into this. Bill Gates says of the book, “Groundbreaking . . . [ The Inner Game of Tennis is] the best book on tennis that I have ever read, and its profound advice applies to many other parts of life.”

How does this book about tennis apply to our arts camps and classes in the Hamptons? The Inner Game of Tennis basically says that to achieve greatness on the court there is an outer game and an inner game. The outer game would include things like technique, conditioning, strength, agility, etc…. The inner game is about calming any self-doubts, fears of embarrassment, doubt, lapses in focus, or having limiting assumptions.

So how does one go about winning the inner game when it comes to say music performance? At Rock Camp and in all our programs we make sure students understand:

  1. Come as You Are. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced artists, we are all learning (literally everyone). So just show up and with a can do attitude, we build from there.

  2. We Are All Human. Mistakes are made all the time on stage…all the time. What’s important is you recover from those mistakes in real time.

  3. With Knowledge and Practice Comes Confidence. You know those butterflies you feel before a performance? Well, they never really disappear, but something very cool happens when you starting gaining real skill and technique. That nervous energy transforms into a something that helps you and gives you momentum….it’s almost as if catch the wave and now you are riding it.



The inner game takes place within the mind of the player and is played against such obstacles as fear, self-doubt, lapses in focus, and limiting concepts or assumptions. The inner game is played to overcome the self-imposed obstacles that prevent an individual or team from accessing their full potential.

Teamwork, The Music and Sports Connection

There are definitely many similarities between sports and music. The importance of teamwork is what first comes to mind. Musicians in Rock Camp, our music camp in Bridgehampton, New York, rehearse and learn the music together, and adjust in real time to what everyone is doing on stage.

Basketball legend, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, says it best. 

"The whole idea of teamwork for a basketball team and a jazz group is basically the same.  You have to work within a tight structure of time, space, and rules, and you have to find room for personal expression while supporting each member in time and reacting to what they do in time and space.  Jazz shows how these constrictors can be liberating rather than confining."

 Here is a short clip of the basketball legend, Kareem Abdul Jabbar talking about attending his first music concert, Duke Ellington and the jazz-like quality to his playing.  Here is another clip of him speaking at Lincoln Center.  So good!  

Summer 2023 Dates for Bridgehampton Summer Camp for the Arts, Adult Classes

SESSION I, JULY 10-14

• Rock Camp, 9-3 pm

• Diving Into Art (Acrylic), 9-3 pm

AFTERNOON CLASSES

• Explore Ceramics, 3-5 pm

• Dance Intensive (Hip Hop Masterclass), 3-5 pm

• Jazz Workshop (Middle, High School, Adult Levels), 3-5 pm

• Adult Music 3-5 pm

• Adult Ceramics 5-6 pm

• Adult Dance 5-6 pm


SESSION II, JULY 17-21

• Rock Camp, 9-3 pm

• Diving Into Art (Watercolor), 9-3 pm

AFTERNOON CLASSES

• Explore Ceramics, 3-5 pm

• Adult Music 3-5 pm

• Adult Ceramics 5-6 pm

A Unique Hamptons Art Camp in Bridgehampton, Long Island

Whether you are studying acrylic art or watercolors with us at Diving Into Art in Bridgehampton this summer, we believe a strong foundation in drawing gives you the tools to find your own voice when it comes to creating art.

What does this mean exactly?

It means every morning we will learn to draw from a variety of perspectives, work on portraits and different techniques in drawing the eyes, the hands, facial expressions, and landscapes.

In our Hamptons art camp we will look at the masters artists such as Renoir, Picasso, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, Norman Rockwell, Goergia O’Keeffe, and others, and learn their techniques. A huge part of learning is standing on the shoulders of past and current greats, and in the process raising our game along the way. The ironic thing is that by focusing on this type of study, creating artificial boundaries to work on certain concepts, your freedom is expanded when creating your own works. If you would like to learn more about our fun and inspiring art camp in the Hamptons, just click here to our art page on our site. See you soon!