There are summer programmes, and then there are summer programmes that launch careers.
Little Steven’s Blues School is the kind of place that stays with you. Run every summer as part of the legendary Notodden Blues Festival, this is not a casual music camp. It is a serious, joyful, community-driven experience for young musicians who feel the pull of blues, soul, funk, rock, and roots music — and want to go deeper. Much deeper.
And with over 35 years of history behind it, it has more than earned its reputation.
A Legacy That Speaks for Itself
The blues seminar at Notodden Blues Festival has been running every summer since 1989 — making it one of the longest-running and most successful youth music initiatives of its kind in the world. That is not a small claim. That is a track record.
Among its alumni you will find names that have gone on to become some of Norway’s most celebrated musicians — Amund Maarud, Kid Andersen, Odd Nordstoga, Vegard Tveitan, and more. These are not just success stories. They are proof of what this programme does when it gets hold of the right young musician at the right moment.
How Little Steven Got Involved
In the summer of 2015, Little Steven — guitarist of the E Street Band, blues advocate, and founder of the TeachRock education initiative — visited Notodden Blues Festival for the first time. He saw the blues seminar. He fell completely in love with it.
So much so that he wanted to be part of it.
That partnership changed everything. The programme expanded, deepened, and gained an international profile that matched the quality it had always had. Today it carries his name — and his belief that blues education is one of the most important things you can do for a young musician.
Two Camps, Two Levels
The school runs two parallel programmes, designed for different stages of a young musician’s journey:
Bandcamp 1 — Ages 13 to 18
The entry point. Built on the original, time-tested model that has been running since 1989. This is where young musicians discover what it means to play in a band — really play, together, listening, responding, building something. The repertoire spans blues, soul, funk, rock, jazz, and more. The emphasis is on breadth, joy, and musical awakening.
Bandcamp 2 — Ages 19 to 26
For the more advanced player who is serious about a music career. This camp goes deeper into the blues tradition, sharpens technique, and focuses on what it actually takes to develop as a professional musician. It is run in close connection with the University of South-Eastern Norway’s Blues and Americana programme, giving participants a direct bridge into higher education if they want it.
World-Class Instructors
The faculty at Little Steven’s Blues School is drawn from Norway’s finest working musicians and educators. Bandcamp 1 is led by a team including Audun Haukvik, Åste Hunnes Sem, Knut Starheim, Bjørn Charles Dreyer, Erik Norheim, Frode Hammersland, Sigurd Hemmingsen, and Thomas Helgaseth.
Bandcamp 2 is led by Espen Fjelle.
These are not just teachers. They are players who have lived the music, and they bring that lived experience into every session.
Stage Time at the Festival
One of the most extraordinary things about this programme is where it happens. Students do not just rehearse in a room somewhere. They perform — at the Notodden Blues Festival itself, one of Europe’s most respected blues events. The closing concerts are real gigs, in front of real audiences, in a festival atmosphere that crackles with energy.
For a young musician, there is nothing quite like it. You arrive as a student. You leave as a performer.
A Melting Pot of Musical Energy
The school’s mission, as the organisers put it, is to be “a melting pot for musical development for young talents.” And that is exactly what it feels like. Students come from across Norway and beyond, bringing different influences, different instruments, different backgrounds — and they leave as a band. As a community. As musicians who have found something in each other and in the music.
Blues, soul, funk, rock, jazz — it all flows through the week. But the blues is always at the centre. The root. The thread that ties it all together.
Why BluesPress Recommends It
If you are a young musician between 13 and 26, and you have ever felt something stir when you heard a great blues song — this is where you go to find out what that feeling means.
Little Steven’s Blues School is not just a summer camp. It is a rite of passage. It is where the next generation of European blues musicians is being shaped, one summer at a time. The history is real, the instructors are exceptional, the festival setting is unlike anything else, and the community you become part of lasts long after the week is over.
Notodden in the summer. Blues in the air. A stage waiting for you.
There is nothing else like it.
