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The long goodbye to a life-changing music camp, Part 1
What went down during the fifth annual Elements Singing/Songwriting Camp
Outside a washroom in the garden of Tao Corp.’s Julio “Jun” Sy’s residence, two young girls are embracing each other.
It is lunchtime at Mr. Sy’s in Dumaguete, literally a stone’s throw away from the airport, and it is what should be the culminating get-together for 7101 Music Nation’s Elements Singing/Songwriting Camp that he, Twinky Lagdameo and Maestro Ryan Cayabyab started five years ago.
For five days, 60 songwriters from all over the country learned, sang, wrote, collaborated, bonded, ate, laughed together and affirmed that their lives won’t be the same. They found new friends, collaborators and, possibly, new versions of their own selves.
Emotional
Camper Toni Brillantes, bubbly and brassy as her music, hugs the introverted Lyriel Gonzales of the band the Ransom Collective who is tearing up, albeit with a smile.
Listen to Toni Brillantes’ past work:
The moment looks cute and funny: Brillantes is a foot shorter, and while probably around the same age, she is acting motherly almost.
They both feel the same about bidding each other a temporary goodbye but Gonzales is at a loss for words and Brillantes is comforting her.
Dealing with parting
Hugs, washroom break, and lunch over, Gonzales sits down quietly on a cushion-less bamboo armchair and sips her drink across fellow camper Miguel Guico whose twin Paolo qualified last year.
A few feet away, mentor Joey Ayala is teaching camper Beatrice Lorenzo, known for her wiry energy and Cheshire cat grin, traditional dance moves; a few male campers shoot hoops with new mentor Nyoy Volante.
The atmosphere continues to be festive and creative as it has been for the past week… and it is a way of dealing with the official parting time.
Tears
“I can’t really talk about it; whenever I say something, I just end up…” Gonzales’s lips quiver, her eyes well up and she apologizes. “I can probably write it down.”
Lyriel’s group The Ransom Collective, where she plays keyboards
Ten minutes later, Lyriel hands us her thoughts on her little notebook. Her word choices are personal, but Guico can relate to every syllable… and the rest of the campers probably could too. Heck, even the mentors would understand. Gonzales is not the only one in tears.
Is it really over? It’s done?
Reprieve
Music was discussed, made and played every single minute from the landing in Dumaguete up until minutes before boarding time days later. The campers even jammed with the blind guitarist stationed in the waiting area.
And then… silence: PAL cancelled the flight.
It is normally an inconvenient turn of events with consequences such as missed meetings and gigs especially for the mentors, media people and production crew but for the campers, it was a gift: an extra day of camp.
Time for more music
The farewells moments ago became a collection of jokes, and now there’s bonus time to chat, and jam, with mentors and each other.
Gonzales’s mood lightens (as did everyone else’s) and later in the evening, she plays songs with some of her fellow campers BP Valenzuela, Jireh Calo, Benny Giron, and Jen Rogers with mentor Aia De Leon in tow in the Essencia Hotel, accommodations provided by the airline.
They pass around a guitar and ukelele, and continued to share and listen to each other’s work, just as they did in Bahura Resort.
Jireh Calo’s “Stay”
No egos
On its fifth year, 7101 Music Nation’s Elements Camp has become an essential must-be-part-of gathering for singer/songwriters.
With alumni now a total of 300 since its inception, its reputation keeps gaining momentum, bolstered by the previous attendees’ experiences.
The relaxed atmosphere subjugates egos: it is understood that everybody including the mentors is there to discuss and enjoy making music as well as trying to navigate the uneasy waters of the music industry.
The syllabus
Topics discussed range from the historical (Joey Ayala’s module on Philippine music history), theoretical (Ryan Cayabyab’s music theory primer), to the practical (recording demos as explained by Raymund Marasigan and sound engineer Angee Rozul ).
While there are scheduled consultation sessions, campers can approach any of the mentors at any time during breaks.
Most of the modules run about an hour which can tend to feel short as mentors do their best to explain and share as much of they can of their knowledge and experiences.
Color-coded teams
The campers are normally grouped into 10 color-coded teams of six members each and have a total of three collaborative assignments: music creation/lyric writing, jingle writing for a 30 second ad and a full song, all with specific themes and genres chosen by drawing lots.
This year, there was a slight change for the first two assignments: the campers were grouped at random.
The idea was to expand the collaborative efforts beyond their immediate group mates and the results were impressive.
An hour to write a song
For the first two assignments, the teams only had an hour each and yet the tunes were catchy, dynamic, and conceptually consistent (vocal performances notwithstanding as, realistically, not everybody was singing in their natural range).
The mentors themselves were pleasantly surprised, knowing that an hour can be too truncated for a decent original tune especially for songwriters who have individual musical ideas and quirks. Songwriting, after all, can be an insular act.
The general consensus was that the Batch 5 campers were all, somehow, natural collaborators regardless of their team assignments. They knew how to work fast, and mostly recognized each other’s strengths immediately.
Specific approaches
For the main assignment, the campers were split into their home color-coded teams (which also tackled the physically and mentally demanding The Racing Maze relay game) and dealt with very specific approaches.
For example, this year’s Red Team picked Musical Theater.
The result was a hilarious song about their camp experience, with sly references to the mentors’ modules, complete with choreography and curtain call.
Electronica artist tackles musicals
It may not seem like a stretch to non-musicians, but consider someone like Cyril Sorongon aka Silverfilter, who is known for atmospherics and electronica, coming up with an arrangement on his laptop that addressed the dynamics and playfulness of a musical… not an easy feat.
Cyril's comfort zone:
If anything, Sorongon was forced out of his comfort zone, guided by mentor Trina Belamide perhaps, but he may have discovered (or re-discovered) a different area of his musicality. (Last year, bossa nova princess Sitti rapped, and the results were legit as well).
The assignments gave the campers the chance to challenge themselves creatively, and by default, the mentors as well. And yes, all genres remained welcome, and the themes Filipino.
READ PART 2. Begin again: music vets, screenwriter mentor 60 campers
