Songwriting camp plays notes of inspiration

By Dale Woodard - Lethbridge Herald on January 25, 2022.

Herald photo by Dale Woodard Hayze Lelek Peterson on guitar and Paula Neu on bass work on their song at the Lethbridge Youth Songwriting Camp Sunday afternoon at The Owl Acoustic Lounge.

A chord was struck as the Lethbridge Youth Songwriting Camp took place this past weekend at the Owl Acoustic Lounge.

As young, aspiring musicians received some songwriting tips from Shaela Miller and a host of local musicians, it was clear everyone was tuned in to the weekend’s musical lessons.

With the COVID-19 pandemic knocking the Lethbridge Girls Rock Camp out of tune, the weekend songwriting sessions instead took place Saturday and Sunday with proceeds from the event going right back to the Lethbridge Girls Rock Camp. Local businesses also sponsored each camp attendee.

While the Lethbridge Girls Rock Camp takes place over a week and puts the students in bands, the weekend sessions instead focused on songwriting with Miller recruiting Lethbridge’s top songwriters, who passed along their tunesmith tricks of the trade over the two-day session.

The students were able to write on their own or team up with someone else and on Sunday afternoon there was a chance to get up on the Owl’s stage and showcase their songs.

“Honestly, I just wish we had more time, it’s going so well,” said Miller. “Just bonding with them, writing with them and teaching them, there are so many lessons you can teach. Usually, these Rock Camps last a week, so doing it in a weekend is a crash course weekend. It’s been tricky, but it’s been really great.”

In the four years prior to the pandemic, Miller taught at the Rock Camp at the South Country Fair.

“But it’s totally different because you get five days and you’re building a band,” she said. “We’re still writing songs, but you’re building a band with these kids and teaching them how to play together. This is a really focused song camp.”

Among the aspiring musicians putting the pen to the paper and the pick to the strings was Charlie Navratil, 12, and 17, Paula Neu.

“My mom has played guitar since she was pretty young,” said Navratil, who has been playing about a year. “She has all sorts of guitars all over the house and I’ve always wanted to be able to play. One day I just picked one up, mom found me some chords to do and she helped me to learn how to play guitar.”

Having been playing for the past five years, Neu said this past weekend’s camp allowed her to solidify her skills further.

“It’s been cool to be in this space to bounce ideas off people who have way more musical experience than I have,” she said. “It’s really helped build confidence in myself, that what I’m doing is OK.”

Navratil even found a writing partner.

“My friend and I started writing a song,” she said. “The lessons we did on the first day were really helpful. In one of the lessons, we learned about royalties and how to interpret the lyrics. Then we had a lesson on royalties and producing and how to make money from songwriting.”

Tips on how to come up with lyrics, sometimes a tricky task, were also shared.

“Even if you don’t have an idea, go on Google, look up some things and brainstorm (or) read a book,” said Navratil. “Once you get an idea, just go with it and have fun. Don’t stress about it too much. Just go with what your gut tells you.”

Miller said lyrics can be difficult for any writer.

“But I think being able to write from your heart and understand that is what makes people like your songs, when you become vulnerable. I think that’s one of the greatest lessons for these kids, to hear us sing from our hearts and sing these vulnerable songs.

“It’s also trying to understand that once they’ve written this music how they put the words over top of it. How do I create the melodies? So that’s a big one, too.”

Now a bass player, Neu got her start when she bought a ukulele when she was 12. 

“It was 2017 and it was the thing at the time and I wanted to learn it,” she said. “The ukulele was fun and I liked it, but it was easy. I wanted to challenge myself more, so I picked up the guitar. I thought maybe six strings was too much, then I went down to bass.”

Favouring punk and grunge, such as Soundgarden and Rage Against The Machine, Neu had teamed up with fellow songwriter Hayze Lelek Peterson, 16, on the weekend.

“It’s nice to come to a place where people share the same interests as me and we can bounce ideas off each other and write music together,” she said.

At the end of Sunday’s jam session, Miller said the plan is to come back in a few weeks and do a singer/songwriter round show for everyone and pack The Owl as much as they can. 

“They’ll sit in the round with other mentors who have been here this weekend and put on a show for their families and friends,” she said “The Owl has a special license where kids can be in here until 10 p.m. So we’ll have a 7 p.m. show and all the proceeds from that show will go towards supporting the Lethbridge Girls Rock Camp.”

Due to the pandemic, the Lethbridge Girls Rock Camp has not been able to run properly for the past two years, said program director Silvana Campus.

“So being able to have a place for kids to come and practise songwriting and (do) at least a little bit of what we do at camp is wonderful,” she said. “It’s really awesome that Shaela has done this for us to help support us because with no camp we have no money coming in, which means we have to find funds to pay for our storage for all of our instruments.”

Campus said the hope is to run the Lethbridge Girls Rock Camp this summer.

“Even if we don’t, there are a few of my campers here, so talking to them, even doing one or two-day workshops like this would be really beneficial,” she said. “I think at the very least there will be something happening in the summer. We’re just not quite sure exactly what it looks like.”

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