Performing music on stage is Meghan McPherson’s dream. She’s been playing piano since age 6 and guitar since she was 10. She started writing her own songs at 13 and, in a few weeks, will begin studying at Berklee College of Music’s summer program, which she hopes will lead to bigger things.
“I really want to do this as a career,” McPherson said.
On Saturday, May 16, McPherson showed off her guitar, keyboarding, singing, and songwriting skills at the Portsmouth Music and Arts Center’s youth rock band concert at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth. The older students in the teen rock band for songwriters looked the part — with bushy hair, hipster shirts on the boys and cut-off shorts and bright red and black plaid pants on the girls. The bandmates took turns talking between songs and handling the lead-singer role. McPherson pulled the mic off the stand as the first song reached its high point, escalating her voice like a young Ann Wilson. When she left the stage, she was exhilarated.
“It’s the energy of it,” she said. “I love being up there.”
Five bands with kids ages 9 to 18 took the stage, strumming and drumming under the lights of the new performance space, while family members cheered, bobbed their heads, and recorded the moment on their phones. After holding this event at The Press Room for a number of years, the concert moved this spring to the larger venue to accommodate the sizeable crowd the event typically draws. With bands ranging in size from four members to seven, there were roughly 150 people in the performance space when the first band broke into the opening chords of the Rolling Stone’s “Wild Horses.”
The Rolling Stones were the featured group for this spring’s rock band classes, and four of the bands selected songs from the group’s extensive catalogue. The young boys in the pre-teen band sang about the girls that got away in a driving, guitar-heavy version of “Satisfaction.” During another performance, Justin Sinclair, a 13-year-old drummer from Greenland Central School, handled the changing rhythms of “Paint it Black” with ease. Sinclair said he’s a fan of the Stones and other bands from his parents’ — and grandparents’ — generations.
“I like the old sounds, especially the drums,” he said.
Nick Phaneuf and Mike Effenberger, PMAC’s youth rock band instructors, managed their students on and off the stage swiftly throughout the afternoon, adjusting amps and volume levels when needed. The two local musicians oversee the rock ensembles at PMAC. Students are matched up into different bands based on complimentary skills and age. The teens come from towns across the Seacoast and all the way from Manchester and the North Shore of Massachusetts.
While most bands are five-pieces with the traditional guitar-bass-drums combo, the bands that performed Saturday had additional elements — a keyboard player, extra guitarists or a lead singer. In years past, bands have included violin and horn players as well. Students rehearse once a week for roughly 12 weeks. Besides the song from that session’s selected band, the groups also get to play a tune of their own choosing. Phaneuf and Effenberger ask each student to bring in a recording of the song they’d like to play. “I see kids bringing in songs five times their age,” said Effenberger.
“It’s now been long enough that the ’90s are cool in the same way the ’70s were cool to me as a teenager,” said Phaneuf. “A lot of kids, especially the later teenagers, have time to discover new music. It’s enriching to me to find out about bands from these kids.”
The kids vote on which song to learn and Phaneuf and Effenberger then transcribe it, or help certain students learn by ear if that’s the preferred method. From there, the emphasis turns to understanding how songs are structured and the importance of playing together, not just a single part.
Sophie Thomas, a 17-year-old bass player, brought in “Malibu” by Hole, a catchy ’90s alt-rock tune that she and her fellow bandmates pulled off seamlessly. Thomas said she and her boyfriend recently started their own band, something Phanuef and Effenberger said a number of teen rock band alumni go on to do. She hopes to continue playing music, although performing is new to her.
“I didn’t think before I could ever stand up on stage in front of people, but it’s a lot of fun and now I want to do it 24/7,” Thomas said.
For more about PMAC’s teen rock band classes, visit pmaconline.org.