As I sat here wondering where to begin this piece, I thought back to one of my first guitar students. She was a shy 9-year-old girl who met my eyes for half a second in the first class and kept her eyes on the floor or on her guitar the whole first session. Among the rambunctious and excited students, she was the one I was drawn to. I think she reminded me of myself at that age. It was clear that she loved what we were learning throughout the classes but was hesitant to engage thoroughly. She was the one who would doubt her ability throughout our sessions even though I saw great potential. I wondered how I could reach this student or students like her. I encouraged her to write her own songs after I heard her softly singing a poem that she wrote to herself one day in class. She told me her favorite artist was Kelly Clarkson and I assured her she could play one of her songs with the chords we had learned. Her eyes widened when I told her one song had only three chords and I wanted her to use those chords to make her own song. Needless to say, I beamed with pride when she stood in front of the class confidently and sang her own composition with a bit of a rock and roll attitude on the last day of class.

What if I had gotten to her sooner? What if I showed her girls can be sound engineers or step up to the stage confidently as the head of a rock band? What if she saw the potential of women in music besides what she always watched on MTV? There in many instances, women are in the background as entertainment or in the front as mere eye candy. What if I exposed her to artists like Memphis Minnie? Minnie was a legendary blues guitarist who broke barriers and shocked the male dominated scene with her guts, drive and amazing talent in the 1930’s.

At an age when girls begin to slowly put their hands down in class, feign interest and take a role in the background, a program like a rock n’ roll camp for girls could be a great catalyst to reverse the momentum of the “I’m just a girl” attitude.

Do I think separating the sexes is the way to go in education? No. I do believe we need a little more time and effort with our girls to build their self confidence, self efficiency and pride in their talents so they can step out into the world prepared for the next step in their lives.

Am I saying these girls are all going to be rock stars? No. But let us show a new generation of girls that they do not need to sit back and be the spectator in different aspects of their lives. They do not need to wear the “I’m with the band” t-shirt. Forget that. They are the band!