Girl Power: Girls Rock! camp fosters new generation of musicians, closes with amped-up flourish at Wealthy Theatre

“Girls can do anything” was the mantra for more than two dozen girls last week at Girl Rock! Grand Rapids with instructors encouraging positive motivation and empowerment for the budding musicians.

 

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When it comes to rocking an audience, The Onomatopoeias wasted little time at Grand Rapids’ Wealthy Theatre on Sunday proving that, yes, girls can do anything.

The fledgling five-piece band — assembled earlier in the week as part of the Girls Rock! Grand Rapids camp — had the crowd shouting from the opening notes of the song, “Tops.”

The performance finale of the third-year camp for girls 8-16 showcased more than two dozen confident, young rockers, including the band Mysterious Lies, which got the crowd clapping along to its ebullient piece, “Girls are Powerful,” perhaps the perfect representation of what these young musicians learned over the course of the week-long camp.

“Girls can do anything,” sang the band, which featured Eleanor Scott-Brandt on drums, Campbell Hansen on bass, Ana Perez and Eva Van Til on guitars, and Mallory Pearson on keys. “Don’t underestimate us; we have power taller than the tallest tower.”

Because a big focus at GR!GR goes beyond the instruments and the music — promoting self-empowerment, self-confidence and being a part of a supportive community — the lyrics in “Girls are Powerful” exemplified the hard work, dedication and positive attitudes that instructors and students put forth to make the camp successful.

In its third year, the week-long GR!GR summer music camp for girls at Grand Rapids’ Cook Arts Center — a program run entirely by volunteers — grouped participants into five-piece bands with an instructor, usually a local musician. The students learned to write a song together in a week, with the camp culminating in a studio recording session on Saturday and a performance at Wealthy Theater on Sunday.

BECOME A BAND AND FIND A VOICE

Rather than rigid perfectionism and strict exercises, the camp focused on the broader philosophy — based in reality — of what it means to be a musician rather than how much you can show off on an instrument.

“Their main focus isn’t technical instruction, more ‘OK, we’re a band. We need to write a song by the end of the week,’ ” said Lizzie Grathwol, volunteer coordinator and GR!GR committee member.

Steffanie Rosalez, Cook Arts Center program director and GR!GR committee president, said the mission extends beyond music: “The camp is about being in a supportive, empowering environment and teaching them how to support one another.”

The bands serve as vessels in which larger lessons and empowerment can be found, but also provide a fun way to spend the week. Campers rank their top three instrument choices when placed in bands with girls about the same age.

“We tell the girls your band can be anything. If you want your band to be five guitar players you could, but typically it’s not,” Rosalez said.

The “typical” band at GR!GR consists of a drummer, bassist, guitarist, keyboard player, and either a second guitarist or keyboardist. Guided by an instructor, the bands collaborate throughout the entire process. They create their own band name and an accompanying logo that they later get to screen-print onto shirts. They write their own lyrics and melodies.

Beyond songwriting, campers attend workshops during the week on different subjects such as body image or race and diversity, aka “real life issues.” Volunteers get to see the girls’ growth through the week, building their self-confidence, their ability to make friends and their belief in encouraging communities.

VOLUNTEERS, HEFTY AMOUNT OF GEAR ALLOW CAMP TO FUNCTION

GR!GR provides all of the equipment for each camper, whether it’s purchased or donated by those who support the positive message of the camp. It ultimately makes the program more accessible to interested campers, removing the stress of having their families purchase the equipment.

“We have a hard time saying no. We want every girl to be able to experience this. So we restructured things and recruited more volunteers,” explained Rosalez.

Local musicians — including well-known working players such as singer and bassist Delilah DeWylde of Delilah DeWylde & The Lost Boys — serve as instructors for the bands, guiding the process. Other volunteers assist with counseling, lunches, graphic design and other tasks.

“We made the decision to have camp week be all female-identified volunteers for the reason that we want to be examples to the girls. They see us carting huge amps, they see us teaching workshops, they see us fixing things. And we hope that is as strong of a message as what we’re saying,” said Grathwol. “We walk away so inspired and we see our volunteers flourishing in the community we create.”

The camp’s third year boasted a record number of campers along with an increase in community support thanks to donations from LadyFest and publicity from the Feminist Film Festival.

“I would like for this camp to not need to exist and to see for every man performing in Grand Rapids, there is a female counterpart, which is just not the case right now,” Rosalez said. “Not just in Grand Rapids, but nationwide.”

FINALE A REAL SHOWCASE OF TALENT, EMPOWERMENT

Judging by the talent, confidence and excitement that was evident in Sunday’s finale at Wealthy Theatre, that situation might soon change.

Before the show, the back-stage area and green room were filled with boiling excitement, nerves and piles of glitter. As the girls got ready for their performances, instructors helped out with makeup while delivering strong, motivational pep talks and instructions.

Many campers were eager to share their stories from the week-long camp.

“This is my first year at camp. I learned a lot and made new friends,” said Onomatopeias band drummer Madilyn Brake. “I learned a lot this week, like what each drum was called and songwriting. We learned a kind of songwriting: rhyming.”

Fellow band members included Adria McNaughton on bass, Ellita White on guitar, and Gaby Stillerman-Flores and Tia Spencer on keyboards.

On Sunday afternoon, The Sugar Kitties were the first band to take the stage in front of a packed house, with Rebecca Hayes on drums, Vivian Lundskow on bass, Penny Mayne on guitar, Reese Hansen on keys and Sophia Haralson on keys. They showcased what they learned by performing an original piece, “We Rock!” — a song about meeting each other at camp, forming a band and rocking the world.

Other bands included:

• Arrowhead & the Rebelles, who performed “Caramel Apple Suckers” with a focused sound and cleverly written lyrics about a group of teenage girls traveling the world. The band featured Sydnee Thomas on drums, Freja Clauson on bass, Jayanna Carter on guitar, and Laila Spencer and Madeline Haralson on keyboards.

• Sister Cat’s “Mothballs and Delaware” boasted some entertaining lyrics: “Sitting down, what are you thinking about? Happiness, magic, unicorns and rainbows. These lyrics are too happy. Lets get real! Taxes, politics, government . . . ” Band members included Siona Wilson on drums, Mica Stillerman-Flores on bass, Roxy Jacobs and Shirley Herandez-Diaz on guitar, and Olivia Szyszko on keys.

• The show’s final band, Chilletid — with Rocio Barradas-Lopez on drums, Bailie Wynbelt on bass, Egypt Kyles on guitar and Chloe White on keyboards — featured musicians who already had attended a GR!GR camp at least once before. And Chilletid was the only band out of six that mixed musical genres, including a verse of rap and rhyme in its song. The girls’ polished performance of “Get Rekt” seemed almost effortless.

Based on Sunday’s debut of six new Grand Rapids rock bands, Grathwol may have put it best when she suggested that GR!GR is “essentially introducing new artists into that community. We have girls that are 15-16 and they are really good and they are going to be musicians in our community. It’s kind of like ushering them in and hoping the music scene that they see is different or that they are making it different.”

GR!GR is one of many programs hosted by the Cook Arts Center, which is part of the larger Grandville Arts and Humanities. More information can be found online at girlsrockgr.org and gaah.org.

PHOTO GALLERY: Girls Rock! Grand Rapids photos by Taylor Mansen and Delilah DeWylde

Copyright 2015, Spins on Music LLC