PUNTA GORDA — Music lessons don’t come cheap. Private lessons typically cost from $25 to $50 each, which sadly is out of reach for many aspiring students.

That’s why, for the third year in a row, the Gulf Coast Banjo Society will play host to Banjo Bash at the Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center, and the group will donate all proceeds to fund music lessons for children and children’s bands around the country.

Show times are at 6:30 p.m. Friday, and at 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $12 for preferred seats and $10 for general admission.

That’s quite a bargain to hear two and a half hours of all types of banjo music — from Dixieland to bluegrass to contemporary jazz — and to help young musicians at the same time.

Banjo players from all over the world will come to Punta Gorda to play, with each player or group donating the performance to the cause. Players pay their own travel expenses, hotel and food; that’s how committed they are to helping student musicians.

“We have performers coming from Canada, Germany, Hawaii and all over the U.S.,” said John Wildemann, president of the Gulf Coast Banjo Society. “All the money generated from the Banjo Bash will go to funding music lessons for children, (preferably) on fretted instruments like banjo, guitar or mandolin.”

In the past two years, the Banjo Bash raised almost $20,000 for music lessons.

Banjo Bash will have more than 80 groups performing, including headliners Buddy Wachter, Johnny Baier and Mike Currao.

Our own local banjo celebrity, Currao, has been playing banjo, mandolin, guitar and ukulele professionally for more than 40 years. He’s been nominated twice to the National Banjo Hall of Fame.

Baier has been the Canadian national champion banjoist, and currently is executive director of the National Banjo Museum and the Banjo Hall of Fame.

Wachter has been inducted into the Banjo Hall of Fame and is considered the most influential four-string banjoist of this generation. In the words of composer Marvin Hamlisch, “Buddy Wachter could bring an audience back from the dead.”

The Gulf Coast Banjo Society was formed by Helen Baker and Ollie Austin in 1988 with 12 members. Today, the group has 50-plus members from Fort Myers to Jacksonville, ranging in age from 65 to 95. The society plays from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every Thursday at Snook Haven in Venice, and members travel around the country in their own groups to play banjo. The group has released three CDs, which are available on its website, www.banjomusic.org.

In addition to playing, the group is committed to promoting and teaching the banjo, especially to young people. The Banjo Bash is the society’s annual fundraiser. For tickets or more information, call the Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center box office at 941-833-5444.

Email: barbara.mellinger@gmail.com