Five-day music camp begins this week at Spokane Public Library; plus other musical offerings at Central branch

Spokane Public Library will debut its first five-day music camp starting Monday. With its very own recording studio, Central Library will provide a space for children ages 12-16 to learn the process of writing and recording their own music.

Leading the camp is Andy Rumsey, the library’s music education specialist. A singer-songwriter and audio engineer in his own right, Rumsey often lends his songwriting and audio production expertise through the library’s partnership with Spark Central in various music workshops and events, such as Girls Rock Lab. At the Central Library, he teaches music lessons and provides one-on-one audio engineering services through the Book an Audio Engineer program.

“This camp, as well as Girls Rock Lab in previous years, just allows me to take all of my skill sets and combine them into one event,” Rumsey said.

Rumsey had talked about the possibility of hosting a week-long music camp at the library for years, and it turns out that the program would be a hit with the community. This summer’s music camp is at capacity, and its success has spurred plans to do more music camps at least annually.

The camp provides five days of instruction and practice, culminating in a recording session using the library’s state-of-the-art equipment.

“I have a little template about the ins and outs of songwriting that I’ve used before, and the first couple days will be getting the kids either learning an instrument, or just making sure they’re as proficient as they need to be on an instrument in order to write songs. And then the last day or so … will be recording a song that then they’ll have this tangible thing to take away for themselves and back to their families to show what they’ve been up to,” Rumsey said.

The event centers on music education, but it also provides local kids the opportunity for community connection and self-expression.

“My entire life, music was a way for me to connect with myself and to connect with others, and allowed me to tap into what it was that I was feeling. And if you can tap into what you’re thinking and feeling, then you’re better equipped to articulate to other people what you’re thinking and feeling,” Rumsey said.

Although this event is at capacity, you can keep your eye out for other music programs at events.spokanelibrary.org. Or if you already have some songs in mind, you can go book the recording studio, as well as Rumsey’s audio engineering guidance, at spokanelibrary.org/recording-studio.

Central Library’s recording space provides much more than just recording and mixing equipment. The self-record section has just about everything you would need to walk in and record your own songs.

“You reserve the room like you would any other meeting room, except when you step inside, rather than it being a room with a TV, you’ve got an acoustic drum set, you’ve got electric drum set, you’ve got a keyboard, you’ve got acoustic and electric guitar, you’ve got an electric bass and two ukuleles, as well as two microphones.”

The recording studio provides access to a laptop with GarageBand so community members can mix their audio recordings on site.

“You reserve this room and you just have this entire playground at your disposal,” Rumsey said.

Built in the Central Library’s recent renovations, the recording studio marks the next chapter in how local libraries serve the community’s evolving needs.

“It continues in the long tradition of libraries increasing access to the latest technology,” Rumsey said. “It was books, yes that’s a staple of what we do. Then over the years it was audio books, and then computers, and then internet, so … it just makes sense that we start to include some of these more modern things that people really do demand.”