Part of a regular Adorama Learning Center series, Sara Landeau’s ‘InSound’ explores the best in audio gear, how-to’s and interviews with other musicians. Read previous installments here.
Last week I taught a workshop at Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls in Brooklyn. Although this camp consistently impresses, it was what the girls did with this hands-on guitar pedal class that came as a complete surprise.
First, what is Rock and Roll Camp for Girls? This non-profit summer day camp is part of a Girls Rock Camp series catering to rock and pop inspired young musicians ages 8-18.The camps, which began in Portland in 2001, have since branched to 40 American cities and globally to places like Dubai, Canada, Europe, and Asia. The girls not only gain experience on their instruments and form a rock band, they get mentorship, learn skills in leadership, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. Most importantly they get to write a song and shred it out at the end of the week. I’ve been fortunate enough to be a teacher at the Brooklyn location, in some form, since its conception in 2005.
The 9:00am – 5:30pm day at camp starts with morning assembly, followed by instrument class. This is where the girls split up into groups depending on their interest: guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, DJ, or vocals. An instrument teacher is assigned by level. There is real work to be done, according to the relatively not so shy girls, and they eagerly await band practice where their 4-5 piece rock band can get loud. They have only 5 days toc reate an original song before performing it. But this is not your normal kiddy recital, this showcase takes place at a large NYC venue such as Bowery Ballroom or KnittingFactory. It’s the real deal – full drumkits, stack amps, and a large professional light show.
Workshops follow lunch. These include songwriting, silkscreening, women in music history, band shirt and logo making, recording, and more. My workshop, called “InvisibleMade Visible,” consisted of twenty of the older girls, mainly those studying guitar and bass. Do they have pedals of their own? Not yet. Do they know what pedals do? Actually, nope. I asked the room “What is a pedal anyway?” Eyes diverted. If there’s ever a time for pedal companies to step up their outreach and include girls, now is clearly that time.
We started with analyzing the order of pedals. I put up a chart I illustrated based onKeeley’s mnemonic device.* We listened to tremolo – “that sounds like its underwater” – and each effect separately. The girls were then given the chance to try a pedal against a second guitarist or bassist’s tone. An echo delay against some distorted power chords,vibrato, reverb with a compressed bassist, endless sustain, a wah, octave pedals, reverse effects…what the heck are all these sounds? The options are endless! This turned into a song, Frankenstein-ed into sections, soundscapes morphing into new choruses. Us teachers were thrilled. But not everyone liked it. Some girls just looked upset. “Is that weird sound coming OUT of the amp? Why?” This was clearly the first time many of the girls had considered even noticing these things in music. One girl, after hearing a boutique overdrive pedal, plugged her ears and yelled “Make it stop!”
An introduction to a loop pedal changed the vibe. Now that we heard a bunch of pedals,we could decide which of these new tones we loved – or, in turn, adamantly hated. The girls discussed what songs specific pedals reminded them of, mostly current hits with recorded synths parts, and not actually guitars, to be honest, but I left that subject for another day. They had strong feelings about each effect. Brains churned this new idea of listening. I asked a more advanced guitarist to start a loop of guitar chords (more startled faces) then a bassist added a riff over it. What happened next was unexpected.“Can we sing through these things too?” Umm, yes. A mic was then hooked up through an effects chain which immediately made the little middle schooler sound like an arena star, a mega dub queen – Santigold even. We made guitars sound like organs and trombones. A young drummer asked “What about drums?” She then learned to play rhythms by hitting a bass which looped then doubled so even more beats were added. A ten minute experimental hit song, with rap rhymes memorized right out of a Dr. Seuss book, flourished. All this came out of three simple low budget kid amps, a few mics, and experimentation with all these unknown boxes.
When the 90 minutes were up, girls dropped everything and ran out without a glance back. It was time for band practice after all, and things just got real. I wished I recorded the end result but it doesn’t matter, sound effects popped up in their performances at the end of the week, and new ideas grew larger than life. This goes for us adults, too. I went away rethinking my strategic approach and decided to can it for more experimentation. Don’t get stuck, there’s no age limit to changing ways. And guitar pedals don’t have to be for guitars. This was the lesson not just the students took (I hope) but us teachers too. Push the boundaries of instruments, use new ones we’ve never played before, chain sounds in ways that that shouldn’t be right, and don’t forget to experiment like it was your first time.
