Comments on: Girls Rock!

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:22:03 +0000

Hey thanks a lot for your responses ebony and Jeanni! I really appreciate you letting me know about the selection process at the DC camp. I’ll definitely let the girl know about it as it really sounds much more like a process she’d be good with.

Keep up the good work!! If I were a woman, I’d totally be volunteering as a counselor.

Girls do, in fact, Rock. Mine especially.

By: SarahMC

SarahMC — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:48:39 +0000

Thanks Jeanni and Ebony!

By: Jeanni

Jeanni — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:33:59 +0000

Hello Tim / Karinova / all,

Like Ebony (above), I am an organizer of the DC camp, and am also sorry that your daughter was turned off after viewing the band selection process that the Portland camp uses in the Girls Rock! film.

I want to be clear that we use a totally different method of band selection at our DC rock camp (and it has worked well for us), precisely to avoid the intimidating “last kid picked” concerns that you mention.

At our rock camp, we do a “speed dating” process, where every girl talks to every other girl at camp for one minute (they are provided with a list of interview questions they can use if they want.) Each camper takes notes, and in the end, writes down a list of ten people she would enjoy being in a band with. Bands are then put together by Girls Rock! DC staff (we ensure that every girl ends up in a band with at least one person she wrote down on her list, plus a good balance of instrumentation), and announced to the campers later that day.

Take care, and we hope to meet more Pursuit of Harpyness readers soon! I am always happy to provide more information about Girls Rock! DC and can be reached at jeanni@girlsrockdc.org.

Rock on!

By: ebony

ebony — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:00:36 +0000

@karinova – thanks for your support! we’ll be sure to let you know about the next instrument class (turntables? guitars? drums? oh my!) via harpyness or some other way

@Tim – i’m really sorry to hear your daughter was turned off by the band selection practices each camp/city does band selection in different ways. as you may imagine, it can be difficult to figure out a way to get dozens of girls to meet and pick top choices of bandmates on the first day of camp!

here, in dc, we’ve felt the round robin/speed dating process has served its purpose of getting everyone to know each other and think of who they want to create music with. BUT, if you or your young rocker have any suggestions of making the band selection process less intimadating-sounding, please let us know!

i can be reached at ebony[at]girlsrockdc.org

thanks to HillRat and the charming and vicious ladies of Harpiness for the shoutout!

By: sarah.of.a.lesser.god

sarah.of.a.lesser.god — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:50:59 +0000

HillRat, this was a great tip! What a truly lovely story. If we all had scream therapy, I think the world would be a better place.

By: karinova

karinova — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:13:40 +0000

PhDork,
I had the same thought: gotta get good at this so I can share the wealth. This is how evangelists must feel. Really, I didn’t expect it to be so… well, empowering! It’s like, “That sound you’re hearing? I made that. I literally made it from nothing.”

Hell, maybe it doesn’t even matter that I’m not so good.

By: PhDork

PhDork — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:45:59 +0000

The video at that link totally made me tear up. And the young woman on drums is a total badass.

karinova, I wonder, depending on where you are, if you could volunteer or work for one of these camps? It sounds like you would be a great role model for these girls.

By: SarahMC

SarahMC — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:40:48 +0000

Tim, I shuddered as I read the description of how bands are picked. That would have been really scary for me too. That was the only thing that gave me pause.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:33:03 +0000

Oh…the movie: http://www.girlsrockmovie.com/

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:31:27 +0000

There is also a documentary about the camp (which started in Portland, OR). The film, honestly, wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be, but definitely worth checking out to see how the camp is run.

My daughter decided not to do the DC camp based on the film, actually. It’s the way they form the bands: All the girls together in a big room with genre signs (goth, punk, pop, hip-hop, metal, etc.) taped up to the walls around. Then they just sort of wander around and organically form bands.

There were some girls who were shunned by others for not being cool enough, or being “annoying.” My girl decided that sounded too stressful and looked like a lot of feelings were hurt.

Hopefully she’ll be more up for it next summer but, one way or another, the girls is gonna rock in a fierce way!