Little sisters are doing it for themselves, with a helping hand from their big sisters. Local singer, songwriter, and slide guitarist Rachelle van Zanten is preparing for the first season of Rocker Girl Camp, a four day intensive workshop for young girls interested in playing music.

"We’re covering everything from sound engineering to musicianship to music business, promotion, to finding your instrument," explains the cofounder of the long-running local band Painting Daisies. "We’re trying to cover everything–from how to tune your guitar to how to work a small sound board, things that I learned over the last ten years. I just want to give these girls a heads up on it now."

The idea came to van Zanten while she lay in bed one day in March. The next morning she got up, placed a call to web designer and fellow rocker Paul Bellows for a website and began quickly recruiting "faculty" for her school. Instructors for the camp include jazz guitarist Mo Lefever, drummer Kim Gryba, vocalists Shannon Boyle and van Zanten, while a few others, including Calgary blues legend Ellen McIlwaine, singer-songwriter Ann Vriend, and sound engineer/manager Kirby will pop in as guests.

"It leads up to a final concert on Friday night with Ellen McIlwaine," says van Zanten. "These girls will prepare their own original material in the bands that they get hooked up with in camp, then they perform live to the public."

A few of the girls coming out for the camp have already made amazing strides in music, such as Pink Mink, a Vancouver power trio comprised of three ten year olds. Pink Mink lead singer Felicity Baker wrote her first song, "Come Sail Away," when she was six years old, attracting the attention of label executives who attempted to recruit her to write children’s songs. "It was amazing," recalls van Zanten, who first encountered Baker while recording in her father’s studio in Vancouver. "We wrote a song together while I was at the studio and there she was singing background harmony on it. That’s pretty advanced."

For Felicity, the camp will be an opportunity to further explore her burgeoning musical skills.

"I hope to learn how to play different instruments, find out what their sounds are, and what the different notes are," she explains during lunch break from her Vancouver elementary school. "I’m pretty sure it will take me a long way in music. And, when we’re a bit older, I want to be able to record our music and do it all by ourselves. That would be cool."

"This band, Pink Mink, they have their little sound system set up," says van Zanten. "They don’t know quite how to run it, but they are learning. It’s great because they now know how to hook up a microphone, and if it’s feeding back they know what to do. Never underestimate the power of a ten year old."