Fifteen-year-old Shirin Pedram has always been musical.
As a kid, she listened to Taylor Swift and was inspired to learn to play the guitar.
She saw how Swift played guitar and wrote her own songs, and she wanted to be like her.
These days, Shirin listens to more rock than pop, but she is still inspired by her favourite musicians, such as the ones in Green Day and Blink 182.
Last year, Shirin started taking guitar lessons at Ava Music in North Vancouver.
“I finally got the chance to start learning last year and it’s been really cool,” she says.
Shirin participates in a class with two other students. They are all at the same level, and Shirin says she enjoys learning together with the other students.
The group learns to play various pop songs, as well as traditional songs.
Learning to read sheet music is also part of the curriculum.
Shirin admits that when she first looked at sheet music it looked like a foreign language to her but now it actually makes sense.
“One of my aspirations is to write proper music,” she explains, adding she was able to write lyrics but didn’t know how to put them to music because she couldn’t read and write the notes. “As I learn more and more through Ava Music I’m sure I’ll be able to do that.”
Learning how to play an instrument can be difficult, and Shirin admits it was hard at first, but she was determined to stick with it.
“I was motivated by my favourite musicians to push myself to become a better musician,” she says.
In the future, she also wants to learn bass guitar, banjo, drums, keyboard and piano.
“I want to try to improve my singing as well because I love to sing and play,” she adds.
Being in a band is probably part of the long-term agenda, but she doesn’t have any plans for that at the moment.
Right now she is focusing on learning to play the hit song “Uptown Funk” in class.
“It’s hard to play but it’s really fun, and I’m sure once we get way better at it as a group it’s going to be much more fun,” she notes.
Ava Music and Art Centre offers summer camps that include music, dance, film, drama, and art. Last summer Shirin attended a week-long summer camp for youth participants, and then stayed for two more weeks to volunteer at a camp for younger kids.
“It was really interesting to work with these kids and to share my passion for guitar with them,” she says.
In her youth camp she participated in film, different forms of art, singing and guitar. There was also an orchestra band with all the kids.
“It was really neat and it was really fun because we all had different backgrounds in music and we all played different instruments,” says Shirin. “And it was just really interesting to all get to know each other and to come together and show each other different techniques and different instruments, and just to play these one or two songs that we did. It was really fun.”
Shirin recommends the program and the camp to other kids and teens: “You’re guaranteed to make new friends and you might learn a thing or two. You might learn a bit not only about music but you might learn a bit about yourself.”
For more information about summer camps at Ava Music and Art Centre visit avamusic.ca.
This story originally appeared in a special section of the North Shore News focused on summer camps.
