Rock N Roll Camp For Girls

I can appreciate the enthusiasm a parent might have for this program… but I also suppose it’s time for someone to interject a little objectivity.
First off, having raised a daughter single-​handedly and also having coached girls youth sports for over a decade, I completely support these kinda camps. As a matter of fact, many kids that I know did School of Rock down in the SF Bay Area, and they were quite awesome and inspired by it. THAT is a great kid’s rock program.
Sadly, despite its connections to Carrie and all of that… this camp is an utter mess. That doesn’t mean the kids didn’t have a blast, and it doesn’t mean it’s a ripoff (at $ 400 for a daycamp week it’s a deal, actually). And it doesn’t mean the staff aren’t great folks who are really enthusiastic and caring.
What it means is… the program is a mess.
It bites off way more than a youngster can chew in some ways, and seemingly fails to address some very basic, basic musical concepts which certainly should be introduced in a weeklong, 8-​hour/​day program.
No parent or relative likes to see their kids eat it onstange… but most of the performances I have witnessed were truly cringe-​inducing. Again, this is not to be mean, but rather to note that it was obvious that a lotta basic stuff was not properly presented to the campers.
A few examples:
1) they seemed divided into bands by age group, not musical experience. As a result, no band was really minimally solid, even the older girls. This is neither fair to kids with some experience, nor to kids with little.
2) the camp had the girls write and perform an original song. Great idea from a certain perspective… but, consider that you had a large number of kids who knew nothing about music (beyond listening to it) prior to their attendance, and this was WAY too lofty a goal.
3) The camp claimed they had teachers for all instruments ~ vocals, bass, drums, keyboard. Exactly what their definition of experienced teachers means is lost on me; most groups did not even have full instrumentation (particularly the absence of bass player ~ even when a group had 2 or 3 guitarists !) and the drumming (something which a pre-​teen can grasp very readily) was unspeakable. Vocalists were clearly unaware/​unfamiliar with how to sing in tune with the key of the song. And some songs were in a terrible key for the singer’s range.
All of this is really BASIC stuff… which is very typical middle-​schooler music class fare (when MS’s had funded music programs, that is); and is easily presentable and grasp-​able by a pre-​teen.
Basic musical form, playing a 2-​chord song for a beginner group vs. a 6-​chord song for advanced, how a drummer can keep a simple and steady beat so everyone doesn’t fall apart, etc. It is a matter of the counselors/​managers/​teachers identifying what the camper is capable of, what they can bite off… and then helping to mold the musical experience/​pieces to their ability. It is THIS which instills confidence.
This sort of awareness was clearly absent at this camp, however.
The camp seemed way more focused on the style of the gurl rocker than on really teaching the kids anything substantial. That is too bad, because at the end of the session, the performances did not display confidence, nor these kids owning themselves in any way. They were tentative, chaotic, and lacked confidence.
No doubt the kids had fun (most of them, the ones who would tend to be more outgoing and OK without direction) and they made friends and will have happy experiences to remember… but if your expectation was for them to have an experience where they’d learn something about music… this camp is significantly lacking in its ability to deliver that.
I would not recommend it; there are far better examples nationwide… Idaho, Seattle, and the SF Bay Area all have SOR’s and I know the Seattle and SF Bay Area ones are pretty much equally attended gender-​wise. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for the folks at this camp to check out some of the more together establishments offering similar youth rock experiences.

My niece has got to be one of the sweetest, coolest little girls out there. Yes, I admit I’m biased but she truly is just a doll. Unfortunately, her personality type seems to be one that the mean girls of middle school can’t help themselves with. As a result, she’s had a rough couple of years trying to navigate her way through the hell that is middle school.
I’ve heard about this camp for years and always wanted to send one of my nieces here but neither of them had seriously taken to music where I thought they would enjoy it enough. Things changed a year or two ago when my niece took to playing the bass guitar. Seriously? How can you not be awesome as a girl playing the bass guitar? Add to that her need for an ego boost and confidence and the Rock n Roll Camp for Girls seemed like a perfect fit for a birthday present.
She was so nervous going into the first day, convinced that because she doesn’t live in Portland she would be the only girl that didn’t know anyone. You can imagine how good it felt when I asked her what she was doing while I was cooking dinner after the first day and she said, «Texting my band-​mates from camp.» The week was fantastic. She got the ego boost she needed as she had spent far more time playing musical instruments and singing than most girls at the camp. It was a great opportunity for her to share the talents she has and help teach. But aside from that, I was so happy to hear her talk about learning self-​defense, setting boundaries, screen-​printing, songwriting, learning about different types of music, including hip hop, talking about racism and sexism and more.
The culmination of the week was the rock show held at the Bagdad Theatre on the Saturday of the week of camp. It was a sold out crowd to witness some serious girl power. Given that the camp doesn’t require any previous musical experience, you can imagine how some of the bands sounded. And while it wasn’t for listening pleasure, seeing these girls get up there with their group and perform was fantastic. What a fantastic experience to provide to the girls in your life. This camp gave my niece just the boost she needed going into 8^th grade.

I attended Rock n Roll Camp for Girls as a camper in 2001, 2002 and 2003, and as a volunteer last summer. It’s hard to talk about it without getting all gushy and tearing up and sounding ridiculous, but the experience of attending Rock n Roll Camp honestly changed my life and I’m not sure how I would have made it through high school without it.
It’s not just about teaching girls how to rock (though that’s important!), it’s about building self-​esteem and teaching girls that they are important and have something to offer to the world, and that it doesn’t matter what they look like or how popular they are at school. It’s about providing girls with role models who are cool not because they have rock hard abs but because they DO cool things and because they are strong and confident. We live in a world where girls are constantly being told from a very young age that the most important things they can be are pretty, sexy and quiet. Rock n Roll Camp for Girls is the only place I have ever been that is a refuge from that.
Please volunteer, please donate, please send your daughters.

Why wasn’t this around when I was younger?
CALLING ALL AGING RIOT GRRRLS:
Send your little sisters (biological and non) to Girls Rock Camp. I saw the preview for the new documentary, «Girls Rock!», based on this camp, and was almost moved to tears. You will have to excuse my sentimentality, but my own trajectory was radically changed by bands like Bikini Kill and Sleater-​Kinney as a teenager. Their music and the underground feminist sub-​culture surrounding it made me feel empowered and motivated to change the world, inspired me to apply to my alma mater, and is one of the reasons I’m who I am today… and the preview for the film brought it all back.
The Girls Rock camp is for girls ages 7 – 17 and their mission is to help girls build self-​esteem through music creation, performance and workshops. Beth Ditto of the Gossip and Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-​Kinney have both been guest teachers at the camp. How cool is it to watch little girls screaming out Bikini Kill lyrics? At lunch, they can watch performers like the Decemberists, the Gossip, Peaches, and more. (!!)
Got this from their website:
A sample day at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls
9:00−9:30 Morning Assembly
9:30−11:00 Instrument Instruction
11:00−12:30 Workshop (see sample workshop list below.)
12:30−1:30 Lunch & Visiting Band Performance
1:30−2:30 Workshop
2:30−3:15 Quiet Band Practice & Songwriting
3:15−5:00 Amplified Band Practice
5:00−5:30 Afternoon Assembly
Workshops may include:
Self Defense
Zine Writing
Song Writing
Screen Printing
Image and Identity
Alternative Instruments
What’s In Your Toolbox?
Electric Youth
and more!
And it’s only $ 375 a week to attend their summer camp. Young girls these days are surrounded by cultural narratives that teach them their bodies are what they can offer to the world to be better-​liked, that other women are not to be trusted, and that they are not skinny enough or strong enough. A camp like this has enormous potential to change lives and to foster self-​determination.

While I have never been a camper at the Rock and Roll Camp for Girls, I do make it a point to attend their Camp Showcases in which girls from ages 9 – 17 perform with their rock groups that they have formed and perfected during the duration of their camp stay. These Showcases are hands-​down amazing. Watching ten year old girls strum their electric guitars on the stage at the Bagdad Theater is a great Portland Snapshot. Don’t miss it – there are usually a few Showcases throughout the summer as well as year-​round benefit events.