Multiple Districts — This summer, students got to experience what it's like to be part of a rock band at Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities' 11th annual Girls Rock Grand Rapids Camp.
During the weeklong camp, girls and gender non-conforming young people ages 8 to 18 were split into groups to choose band names, design logos, and participate in instrumental and songwriting workshops. Staffed by local women and gender non-conforming volunteers, the camp included students from Grand Rapids, Godfrey Lee, Godwin Heights and Kelloggsville public schools.
Each band had different combinations of students playing guitar, drums, and keyboards, some students composed songs for their instrumental performances, and some wrote their own lyrics.
At GAAH’s Cook Arts Center, the newly formed band, the Starlight Killers, brainstormed lyric ideas under the guidance of Jess Kramer, a former Girls Rock Camp volunteer and now GAAH’s chief financial officer and band coach. Kramer encouraged the students to start putting their rough lyrics to music.
Opal, an eighth-grader at Grand Rapids Montessori School, said feelings of loneliness spark song ideas, while Isabella, a second-grader at Southwest Middle School, suggested the lyric “Silence is bigger than my thoughts” and received a positive response from her bandmates.
Nearby, Kelloggsville middle schooler Henry was trying out some chords on a shoulder keyboard, which City Middle School freshman Happiness said sounded like “ice cream truck music.”
Henry said learning to play the synthesizer was the most fun part of the camp.
“It's all come together and we're excited to be able to play our songs in front of an audience.”
Over the weekend, the “Starlight Killers” and five other bands recorded songs in a recording studio and performed on stage at the Branford Nature Center.
What is Girls Rock Grand Rapids?
Girls Rock Camp Alliance is an international membership network of youth-centered arts and social justice organizations. In 2012, CEO Staff Rosales and five other women partnered with Grandville Avenue Arts and Humanities to found a Girls Rock chapter in Grand Rapids, and in 2018 took over the program entirely.
Constituting a cultural shift
Kramer said Girls Rock is not a traditional music camp.
“We're not trying to create the next guitar virtuoso or drumming prodigy,” she says. “Our goal is to create a place where kids can be their true selves, feel confident, and learn to collaborate creatively with their peers.”
GAAH CEO Steph Rosales said that while the specific goals of the camp are simple — to join a band, write songs, record and perform — the larger goal is to change music culture and foster inclusivity and justice. Young musicians need to let go of the idea that they have to sound “perfect,” she said.
“We are trying to teach children and adults to resist deeply ingrained cultural norms that tell us that to express ourselves through music, we can only be heard, seen and represented in ways that are aligned with technical ability, celebrity culture and a history of exclusion,” she said.
GAAH Chief Operating Officer Alex Kuiper, a former teacher and school administrator, said he has seen firsthand the importance of arts and music in students' lives.
“Not only do the arts enrich lives and help students with their academics, but they also give young people the opportunity to explore their identity and find their place in the world,” he said. “Girls Rock Grand Rapids gives young people who have historically not had access or opportunity in a male-dominated music scene the opportunity to explore what it means to be musicians and collaborators in a safe, creative space.”
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• Fourth graders learn about energy transfer through sound baths