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The Liberty Square was rockin’ last week as area youth took the stage at Corbin Theatre.

They were attending Palen Music Center’s first rock camp, creating bands with colorful names in a matter of hours, not a matter of years.

“It’s a blast,” Sam Reed of Liberty said. “It’s fun to really rock out with other people.”

Reed is entering his senior year of high school.

Phil Schlotterer of Palen Music Center said the energy level was high throughout the sessions.

“It was like throwing a bucketful of firecrackers into a fire,” he said. “They were ready to play.”

Schlotterer said the camp gave students the opportunity to play together, working as a team, not individuals.

It didn’t take long for the different musicians to create their sound.

“We grouped the kids with their friends and those with like skills,” Dick Murdock, general manager of Palen Music Center, said. “We had three sessions a day.”

Camp culminated with a concert July 2 at Corbin Theatre.

For Chase Pound and the others, the music plays on. Pound plays bass guitar.

“It’s my instrument of choice,” he said.

Pound, who is already in the band Talent Scouts Four a Freak Show, said he enjoyed rock camp and thought the experience could help him toward his goal of having a music career.

“We’re trying to get signed to a record label,” he said. “I’d like to make a living with my music.”

Pound, who is entering ninth grade, has been playing bass guitar for four years.

Murdock said the idea for rock camp sprang from a desire to fully utilize Corbin Theatre, which the music school also used for recitals last week.

Murdock said organizers already had plans to offer the rock camp again next summer.

The music school is also looking at a rock camp for girls only, which would be taught by female instructors.

Senior writer Mark Johnson can be reached at 781-4941 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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