Music camp is a perfect pitch
Children get earful at summer respite

BYLINE: John T. Davis AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
DATE: May 28, 1992
PUBLICATION: Austin American-Statesman
EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: ONWARD
PAGE: 9
COLUMN: Country/Acoustic

Everybody needs a motto . . . a dictum, a mantra, a personal truism. Every company needs a logo, a slogan, a tag line. Where Michele Murphy is concerned, both requirements might work out to the same thing - something along the lines of "We have nothing to hear but ear itself . . ."

Murphy is a familiar figure to those who frequent the Broken Spoke. She was, for a while, a Pleasant Valley Person in Alvin Crow's band. And her own ensemble, the Boy Friends (which features her young son Luther on bass and an 11-year-old drummer, Zac Colwell), is no stranger to the stage of the Spoke, either. The songs on her latest album, Blue Hole Boogie, were road-tested at the venerable honky-tonk. And she has, when financial demands dictate, even worked as a waitress at the Spoke, schlepping beer.

But being a waitress is an anomaly on Murphy's resume. By her own admission, she has been involved in music all her life. Her mama was a professional tap dancer in Houston, who entertained the high rollers of the Bayou City at the opening of the Rice Hotel back in the 1930s.

Murphy was trained in a classical music context, and schooled in piano and cello. The guitar with which she plies her trade today was something of an afterthought, acquired only when she moved to Austin several years ago.

Besides her own gigs, Murphy carved out a comfortable existence as a music instructor to local kids. But, come summertime, all of her students quit to pursue other seasonal diversions. Murphy was determined not to go back to waiting tables, and so she cast about for a way to make music lessons and summer co-exist.

And thus, in 1991, the Natural Ear Camp was born.

The premise of the camp (which has two sessions this year, June 8-26 and July 6-24), according to Murphy, is simple; "All kids have some experience with music, even if they don't know it," she asserted. "Some kids are natural drummers, guitar players, fiddle players. I've had kids that say they hate music, and I say, 'Play it for me in A-minor'."

Her premise is simple, but it is her execution that sets the Natural Ear Camp apart. Classes will be held in the Austin Rehearsal Complex, and the idea is to form the students into groups of five, who will then go on to form their own musical groups.

"They tend to choose their instruments pretty spontaneously," said Murphy. "And they form a group which turns into a band. Last year, I took a piano student who could play a little by ear and wanted to do more. She and her mother thought she couldn't sing. I said, everybody can sing, she just needs to learn how to act."

That is how Murphy instructs, by building on innate knowledge. She also employs peer pressure. One member of her staff is Jason Crow, Alvin's son. "He's a natural teacher," said Murphy, "He's the oldest of four kids. He knew exactly what my concept was."

Her other instructor is Jason Roberts, a student at Lampasas High School and, not incidentally, the nephew of fiddle maestro Johnny Gimble and a member of Don Walser's Pure Texas band.

As Murphy sees it, her Natural Ear Camp fills a niche that kids themselves are no longer aware of. "When I was a teenager," she recalled, "people got together and played music. A bunch of kids would form a garage band, the whole deal. But it doesn't happen like that anymore. When I give piano lessons, I teach them Heart and Soul, Chopsticks, Happy Birthday - all the things that children used to teach each other. And I tell them, go out and teach this to all your friends (because) this is something that is not happening out there."

What Murphy's camp provides is a ready-made "garage," a music-rich environment. It is held with real instruments, in a working rehearsal and recording facility. The work ethic is alive and well. "I have to keep saying, the group is important, not you," said Murphy. "We made signs - No Whining, No Goldbricking, Save Your Voice For Singing - but it's all done with humor."

Once that consensus is established, the real work begins. Murphy offers her students a choice, everything from Yakety Yak to Waltz Across Texas, and then helps them work out their respective parts. It is a process of mutual discovery. The merit of the method is attested to by musicians Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Danny Levin, whose offspring have attended the camp.

Graduation - if one wishes to call it that - occurs at (where else?) the Broken Spoke. On June 24, just before the end of the first session, Murphy and the Boy Friends have a gig booked. But the first part of the evening will be devoted to performances by her students. "They'll be fighting to get to the microphone," she predicted confidently.

For more information on the Natural Ear Camp, call 512-328-1719.