It took about 40 years for the turntable to join the guitar, bass, and drums in rock music’s arsenal. The process went a lot faster at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Oregon: this summer the camp, which since 2001 has offered instruction in playing instruments and singing for girls ages 8 to 18, added a DJ/electronica program to its curriculum. According to Misty McElroy, the camp’s founder and executive director, the impetus for the new course came from the campers themselves. “Each year we’ve given them feedback forms [asking] what else are they interested in that we’re not offering,” she says, “and each year this tops the list.”
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Tuition at the camp, which is funded by donations and staffed by volunteers, is $300 for a one-week, days-only session, but nearly 60 percent of the girls are on some kind of scholarship. There’s not much money to buy equipment, and the camp has to rely largely on donated gear. Musicians have contributed enough old guitars and amps to outfit the classes, but turntables and mixers are proving harder to come by. So far the camp doesn’t have any DJ gear–this summer the instructors brought their own–and it’s looking for help. It should get some from a benefit show Saturday night at Highschool (1542 N. Milwaukee, third floor); admission is $6, but attendees are also asked to bring used DJ equipment in good working order. Local independent music publicists Jessica Hopper and Ben Fasman, the event’s organizers and DJs themselves, will spin, as will Josh Davison, aka Touchmaster Infiniti.
While the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp’s more traditional courses draw students of varying skill levels, none of the girls in the DJ program this summer had any previous experience. Before Lauren Krueger, 13, of Portland, went to the camp, the only DJ setups she’d ever seen were at school dances. Krueger, who’s been playing bass for three years and counts the Beatles, Nirvana, the White Stripes, and Aretha Franklin among her favorite musicians, says she took the DJ course in search of “something new. It was fun–we learned how to mix one beat into another, how to scratch a little bit.” Her favorite part of the class was mixing and beat matching–adjusting the tempo of a song to match the one it’s following. “It was really hard,” she says. “You have to keep trying and trying. But when you get it, it sounds really great.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Paul L. Merideth.
