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CLARKSVILLE, TN – The Community School of the Arts (CSA) first rock band camp in late June helped bring Clarksville’s newest band, RACA, together.
The band’s name, RACA, is an acronym coined by its members on the last day of the week-long camp. The letters stand for the first name of each band member.
R stands for Rylan Ross, 11, the bassist for the band from Richview Middle School. A is for Rylan’s older brother Aiden, 17, a Clarksville High School graduate. C stands for Cain Adcock, 14, Clarksville High Freshman, who co-directed vocals and guitar with Aiden. And the final A is for Andrew Bartel, 14, a Northwest High School sophomore who played drums including a formidable solo in the rock performance at the end of camp.
The band met on June 28, and at the end of camp four days later gave a concert for family and friends in the Music / Mass Communication building at Austin Peay State University that performed two original songs and a few hyped covers.
“Camp was really fun making songs, but it was a challenge as we only had four days to do stuff,” said Cain. “It was fun, but also a challenge.”
The camp was the first of two rock band camps that CSA has planned. The second will take place July 19-23. Registration for this camp, which takes place daily from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Austin Peay and culminates at the end of the last day with performances for friends and family, is still open.
“Learning to play with the experience of others”
Tyler Spuzzillo, a music student from Austin Peay, leads the camps and integrates more than “jam sessions” into the week by teaching music theory workshops, rehearsal techniques and repertoire preparation. However, the biggest benefit for the campers is learning to play with others.
“When you play electric guitar, bass, or drums, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to play with other people,” said Spuzzillo. “I think that’s number one, just playing with other musicians and then playing with musicians of different levels, not just learning to play with others, but also learning to play with other people’s experience.”
The band members of RACA were ready to go from the start. You wrote one of the original songs, “Pessimist”, in four days. The other original song, “Persistent,” was one that Aiden had been working on. The band played both songs during a performance for their families at the end of camp.
“‘Pessimist’ came this week, it was all of this week,” said Cain. “Even then, we went through a number of revisions and it got to this point. And Aiden’s song ‘Persistent’ required me to learn the riffs and push my voice a lot more than I usually do. “
Aiden, who plans to go into music education after high school, agreed, “I still benefit from the greatest experience because I could do things with my voice that I had never done before. These are things that I didn’t know I could reach with my voice. ”
Rylan had never played bass before camp, but since Andrew played drums, Rylan agreed to learn bass to round out the band.
“It was a challenge and I had to learn to play five songs in four days,” he said. “I had problems the first four days and then last night I came home and Aiden helped me practice and I did it.”
Aiden added, “He just drilled and drilled and he got it. I think he has learned that he can achieve anything he wants as long as he really tries. ”
Cain hopes the work for RACA will continue.
“I really hope this band sticks together because the music we made together was amazing,” he said. “And to be honest, we basically rocked everyone here. It’s an achievement in itself and I have a feeling that we could do more. “
Aiden, who has been playing guitar since he was 12, agreed: “It was amazing. It was crazy. I wouldn’t change it for anything. This week has been really good. I wish I had something like this when I started. The ability to play with an ensemble is absolutely amazing. ”
Second rock band camp from July 19th
At the second rock band camp, the students are divided into their own rock band (from three to six members) depending on their taste in music / interests. In master classes, music workshops and rehearsals, they then learn to run, organize and build a functioning rock band.
Attendance at the camp costs $ 150. All capable instrumentalists or singers aged 10-17 are invited.
To register or for more information, visit this page. To learn more about the Community School of the Arts, visit www.apsu.edu/csa.
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