Educator
A talented and experienced teacher
Mike has always been a storyteller, and education is an organic craft for him. He weaves songs and performance with pedagogical craft to connect people to their own voice, in their own stories, songs and music.
photo by Michael Emanuele, Backstage Flash
Ghost Ranch Bluegrass Camp
Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, NM
Gregg Daigle and Mike Finders
Bluegrass Camp at Ghost Ranch
Every year Mike teaches at Ghost Ranch Bluegrass Camp, in Abiquiu, NM, usually the weekend after Mother's Day. This year, 2027, the camp will be from May 12-16th, and there'll be the usual group of instructors: Gregg Daigle, Erin Youngberg, Aaron Youngberg, Ryan Drickey, Matt Flinner and Mike. From Wednesday night picking, classes on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the big show on Saturday, and that last circle up and send off Sunday morning, year after year this camp has impacted all involved. The Ranch itself loves the music, the pickers love the teaching and opportunities to play with and for each other, and the instructors love getting to do nothing else but dig into this amazing art form. Camp fills quickly. Here's the link to register at Ghost Ranch for the Bluegrass Camp!
Guitar Camp at Ghost Ranch
Springing forth from the success of the Bluegrass Camps and the mutual friendship of Mike and Gregg Daigle, they've added a guitar-focused camp at Ghost Ranch in the Fall weeks. This past year the camp focused on arranging for two guitars, basics of soloing and introductions to harmony singing. Dates for 2027 have not been determined yet, but stay tuned. Here's Ghost Ranch's website: https://www.ghostranch.org/
Camps and Classes
Mike has been teaching for almost 30 years, and holds a Master's Degree in Special Education. In addition to a few years in public school, Mike has taught thousands of guitar and songwriting lessons as well as facilitated hundreds of bluegrass and songwriting workshops, classes and camps for adults and children. For the last 17 years, Mike and his band-mates have taught multi-day educational music camps at Ghost Ranch, in Abiquiu, New Mexico, as well as the Pagosa Folk and Bluegrass festival in Pagosa, Colorado. They've taught camps all over the west, and consider teaching folk music to be a high honor and revered role in the folk music process.