Youth learn to create beats

Senior FAME FM disc jockey DJ Denvo recently conducted a one-week disc jockey summer camp geared at teaching youth to create rhythms.

“One of the things I’ve noticed with the kids is that they have shown enthusiasm for music. They’re now working together in teams as groups, and they’re now a little bit more confident in themselves through music,” said DJ Denvo.

The one-week camp from July 1-5, catered to 26 children aged 10-17, from the communities of Waterhouse, Seaview Gardens and Olympic Gardens.

“In terms of team-building spirit, there was one young lady who said ‘Sir, I don’t want to be in this group with this person because me and them can’t get along’. They were constantly bickering and arguing from the start of camp on Monday. I did not switch them up until about Wednesday. By Thursday, the student came back to me and said, ‘Sir, I want to go back in that group because I think we work well together’. That showed me that the team-building energy was in camp and they really had fun with the music,” Denvo shared.

The camp was sponsored by the J. Wray & Nephew (JWN) Foundation and was held under the theme ‘Transforming Lives and Communities for a Better Jamaica’.

“Our neighbouring communities along Spanish Town Road are faced with several challenges, many of which are grounded in the inability to express or give voice to emotions. By introducing the children to an activity that provides a platform for self-expression, creativity, and collaboration, we are hoping to become a catalyst for better communication.

Possibilities

“We are also providing the participants with a vision of what else is possible for their future careers,” said JWN Foundation CEO Tanikie McClarthy Allen.

The children were introduced to different aspects of deejaying and music production such as mixing, scratching, remixing techniques, audio editing, creating radio advertisements, beat making, and content creation.

“This camp has really been great to me because it has helped me to interact with people. I’m not used to interacting with people and working with a team. It taught me to play with things and listen to music because I don’t really like music. I mostly read books,” said Chrissy-Lee Ormsby, who attends the Convent of Mercy Academy, Alpha.

“It was great. I had a lot of fun, it was nice.”

Sanjay Loague, who attends Camperdown High, also embraced the experience.

“It made me meet some really good people. I’ve never been around so many good people in life, because I’ve met up with some really bad people, so it was really good,” said Loague.

“We had some excellent teachers here at camp, and I just want to tell them thanks for teaching us and the other campers how to do this deejaying thing. I never knew anything about deejaying or anything like that until this camp,” added Loague.