By ANDY ROSS, Staff Writer
Sunday, April 20, 2008 5:23
AM CDT
Following yesterday’s performance of the Delta Blues Museum
student band at the Juke
Joint Festival, it was announced
their own 18-year-old guitarist, Travis Calvin of Clarksdale,
was chosen
as the scholarship recipient
to a five-week summer music
program at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Calvin was one of three finalists in the after-school music
program who auditioned Thursday for the chance to go to Boston
July 12-Aug. 15. While at Berklee he will join 900 other high
school students representing some 50 countries.
Calvin says he is excited about being chosen and this will be
his first visit to Boston.
“This is the greatest opportunity. I was trying to go
to the program last year, and then this year it just happened.
I am really looking forward to it,” he said.
Sixteen-year-old guitarist and vocalist Omar Gordon and 18-year-old
bass player Jeremy Horton were the other two finalists.
Allen Bush, director of media relations at Berklee, was one
of those judging the auditions and said it was a tough decision
as all three put on solid performances.
“All three are extremely talented and embody traits of
a great musician, so it was a hard choice,” he said.
A decision had to be made, however, and Bush said there was
something about Calvin that stood out.
“Travis stepped up to the plate. He performed a great
version of ‘Amazing Grace’ with a drummer. His solos
really blew me away. I didn't expect solos like that,” Bush
said. “He also seemed like he really wanted to go to Boston,
and I liked the fact that he says he wants to teach music to
younger kids in the future.”
Judging the sessions with Bush were Shelly Ritter, director
of the Delta Blues Museum, and Daddy Rich, a local musician and
one of the after-school music program instructors.
“Travis is very dedicated and serious about his music,” Ritter
said. “He has a natural ear and ability to pick up on different
things, and Berklee can offer him a more formal foundation that
will only be beneficial.”
The first ever scholarship offer from Berklee originated after
instructors at the school decided to focus on incorporating more
musicians from Mississippi and their distinct styles with what
is going on at Berklee.
The school is also awarding a summer program scholarship in
Crystal Springs through the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation.
Bush says he hopes this is just the beginning of more opportunities
to provide young Mississippi musicians with chances to study
at Berklee.
Drawing a large percentage of international students who come
to America to absorb its musical styles, Berklee is one of the
most prestigious colleges of contemporary music in the world.
Bush says foreigners enrolled in the school and attending its
summer programs are especially interested in the blues and Mississippi
culture, of which he believes Calvin will be a great representative.
“He is definitely going to enrich our music culture at
Berklee. There is no doubt about it,” Bush said. “Once
the kids from Europe learn he is from Clarksdale, they are all
going to be asking to play with him.”
Bush also noted the influences go both ways.
“He is also going to be exposed to a ton of different
styles, so I would be curious at the end of the summer to see
how his idea of music has changed.”
