May 29, 2009

Friday Night at Rock Camp

Friday night Rock Camp started with a full blow jam session. The kids were playing and teaching each other their favorite guitar riffs. Creativity at this age is so fun to watch. During the entire jam session, PJ just smiled and in his typical energetic fashion walked around encouraging the kids. It seemed his task was getting the kids to listen to each other and to learn how to communicate what was going on musically.

When it came time to learn another PJ tune, Mike Irish and PJ had a little work to do figuring out tuning for capoed acoustic guitars and the electric guitars. Being the guitar master he is, Mike had it figured out and notated in no time. I found it fun to watch Mike in a teaching environment again. Although I've been to many Jazz Lab Band gigs over the years, its been awhile since I've seen Mike work with the kids. I was especially impressed when he sat down with Dominic the drummer and laid down the beat for PJ's tune. Remember, Mike's a guitar player.

About an hour into the session, Todd rolled up with lights and a smoke machine. According to the girls, it was vanilla smoke. Todd is working hard to prep the space for the big Brockit rock star photo shoot. Todd was able to coax Dominic into donning some shades in preparation for the shoot.

Mike and PJ continued to work with the guitar players learning another great PJ tune. As is typical with all the bass players I've known over the years (with the exception of Todd), the bass player in this group is very laid back and just grooves. What is it about bass player personalities anyway?

I had a little tag-along who was disappointed that we had to leave prior to PJ working with the vocalists. I have a feeling my six-year old will be back for another session. PJs's tunes are so much better than Hannah Montana's and I would rather she learn substance over style.

FULL GALLERY

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