Looking in on GRAMMY Camp® by Dana Lee Payne

Yesterday during the free time period we were given, I decided to interview two campers who were lounging in the computer lab about their experiences at GRAMMY Camp® and if they liked some of the guest artists who have come so far. Their names were Jeffrey Fralinger, from Ocean City, NJ, and Anik Bhattacharya, from Sugarland, TX. Here is what they said…

Dana: How did you find out about GRAMMY Camp?

Jeffrey: “My teacher is a voting member of NARAS and he sent me an email about sending students to GRAMMY Camp.”
Anik: “My vocal coach has a lot of contacts in Hollywood and he found out about this and told me that I should try out. Initially, I tried out for the Jazz ensemble and I almost made it, but instead I got put into the Singer/Songwriter track.”

Dana: Are you enjoying yourself so far?

Jeffrey: “Yeah actually, everything seems pretty cool.”
Anik: “It’s really tough because in Singer/Songwriter you have to write two songs in nine days and to have two really good songs we have to write like five. To help have really good lyrics we collaborate and the first process is actually collaborating, really. In the course we share our tracks that we have and get feedback.”

Dana: What did you think about Jason Castro?

Anik: “I think he was professional and he is really good at what he does. Personality wise he seems really good and I liked his performance. He’s pretty funny and he shared his experiences."

Dana: So did he give you any good advice?

Anik: “Yeah, I mean everybody’s life story is different but lots of people can give you ideas on what you should do.”