LEARNING THE BASICS CAMP of ROCK

By ERIC R. DANTON
HARTFORD COURANT
GOSHEN, Mass. -- The one in the leopard-print pants and dyed-black hair snatches the microphone off its stand, cocks her hip to the right and sneers for a moment as the drummer counts off her song.
Suddenly she's growling out lyrics about messed-up love over a chugging guitar riff while the small crowd looks on, open-mouthed. Finished, she offers a demure little smile and trots off stage.
It wouldn't seem out of place at CBGB in '79, maybe, but this setting differs a bit from the infamous New York punk club. It's a 19th-century barn, for one thing, and the singer, Vanessa Noble, is a 16-year-old girl making her stage debut on the last day of rock 'n' roll camp.
Vanessa is one of 12 girls who recently spent eight days on a converted farm, learning the basics of rock: song craft, musical collaboration, arranging and stage presence. Shepherded by professional musicians, the girls are encouraged to write songs, learn rudimentary instrumental techniques and generally express themselves through music.
"I thought it sounded kind of cool," says Vanessa, of Amherst, Mass. "I wanted to maybe learn to appreciate music more and learn more about playing with other people."
Encouraging women
Those are among the goals of the camp, which is run by a nonprofit group called the Institute for the Musical Arts, founded in 1987 in California to support women in music, whether on stage or behind the scenes. Rock camp is a way to get them involved at an early age.
"I think it's so great that young women have a place to come when they're into the musical arts," Molly Krifka, 13, of Amherst, tells the crowd of parents and siblings on the last day.
Such places haven't always been available for women, who have traditionally played a minor part in the macho world of rock 'n' roll.
"Back in the day, there were no girl bands, no mentors, no role models whatsoever," says the music director, June Millington, who's in her pajamas in the kitchen of camp headquarters -- a saltbox farmhouse dating to 1818 -- making tea on a Thursday afternoon. "So it's important to me to pass on my good fortune."
Millington, 56, knows about the old days. She played guitar in Fanny, one of the first all-female rock 'n' roll bands to write and play its own material. The group released four albums in the '70s and shared stages with the Kinks, Jethro Tull and Humble Pie. When Fanny broke up in the mid-'70s, Millington went on to produce records and start a record label before founding the Institute for the Musical Arts with partner, and executive director, Ann Hackler.
Growing numbers
Rock camp is a more recent addition to the institute's repertoire of programs and workshops. Now in its third summer, the camp has grown from one session in 2002 to three this year as word spreads across the region. Most of the participants are from Massachusetts and Connecticut, though there's one girl who came for two sessions from Boca Raton, Fla. There was also a week for adult campers earlier in the summer.
Each session costs $750, which includes instruction, meals and a bunk. With only eight days together, the campers progress quickly from getting to know one another, to working on the songs each girl is encouraged to bring, to putting together the end-of-camp show for their parents.
There's no screening process for admittance. Hackler calls the campers in advance to assess their musical knowledge, though none is required. The camp is open both to girls who have experience and to those who seek it. Even girls who have never picked up a musical instrument can bang on a tambourine, and they often write poetry that can be turned into song lyrics.
"Almost all of them write in journals," Hackler says. "I did the same thing. I started writing in journals when I was 12 and I secretly thought my bad poetry could make a pop song."