An Origin Story: Summer Sessions
There are events in our lives that immerse us in such awe that they leave imprints on our psyches, permanent place markers on the timelines of our lives. I remember when this guy I liked played a song for me while we were driving down the road and I knew I was going to be with him forever. I recall when a college professor told me I would amount to nothing and I knew with an unfamiliar conviction that no one had ever been more wrong. Then there was the death of a beloved relative that made me question my life in ways that would become irreversible.
I’m not talking about Grand Canyon types of awe. What I refer to comes in hindsight. It is the emotion we feel when we look back at one of these events and understand how the trajectory of our lives has taken a sharp turn. The awe lies in the insight we hold when acknowledging that a seemingly inane event can create an impression so large that nothing is the same again.
Now, of course, this awe is subjective. Very few can stand in my shoes and fully understand the power of these moments on my life path; and yet, that is exactly what I intend to do, though the subject of our investigation is not Danielle Parker. In the following paragraphs, I will take something normal, commonplace, an aspect of our world that we appreciate but also don’t think twice about, and unfold the wonder that is waiting to be felt. There is a story to be told and some moments to be understood.
Let’s talk about Rock 101 Summer Sessions.
Moment #1
That is perhaps a misnomer, for Summer Sessions is the destination of this story, not the topic. We will focus our gaze, then, on Rock 101 Director Kevin Herig, though perhaps it is a version of Kevin that you do not currently know. The Kevin of which I speak is an 8th grader. He is in the process of learning guitar, playing around and having fun with it. He is confident in some chords but not confident enough to name any notes.
Unbeknownst to him, at the moment that we zoom in on this Kevin, his older siblings are in the basement with a crowd of high school friends. The person who promised to be the musician is not in attendance. Scrambling amongst themselves (a get together with no music?!), they remember that their younger sibling is learning guitar. He knows several songs. Probably an amazing performer.
And this is how 8th grade Kevin found himself on a stage for the first time, playing the few songs he knew and singing along. He starts out tentatively, unsure of himself, and - if we are honest - just a bit scared. As he proceeds through his songs, the trepidation shifts into a confidence that opens him to the experience. If we watch closely, we might catch the moment where he makes the connection between performing music and the feelings of fun, joy, and discovery. Indeed this very awareness causes the trajectory of his life to shift ever so slightly. Whether he knows it or not, he has just stepped onto a new path.
Moment #2
Asper Kourt
We will rejoin Kevin several years later during his senior year at the University of New Mexico where has progressed on his musical path. Now an expert on both guitar and performing, he writes his own music and started a band with friends named Asper Kourt. The band is just starting to feel the tendrils of success. They were featured on the Food Network show What Would Brian Boitano Make?; they opened for a show at The Sunshine Theater; Asper Kourt songs were chosen to be played on American and Delta Airlines flights; they were featured on MTV with a Needle in the Haystack award.
Despite this, something is awry in Kevin’s world. Inexplicably off kilter, he finds himself staring at the start of a musical career and not feeling enthused. In those quiet moments, when the world is not whispering in his ear, what he comes to understand is that the music has changed.
Music had been an organic and creative endeavor, something that flowed from him with no specific destination other than the goal of discovery. As he progressed with Asper Kourt and started to feel a taste of outward recognition, the band began focusing on external objectives that were slowly coloring these pure intentions. Instead of creating music solely for the sake of creation, the band started considering what the audience would like to hear, what current trends they should be utilizing, what decisions would strategically push them to the top.
Although performing his music was fulfilling, feeling heard by the world was a thrill, and receiving recognition for hard work was affirming, his heart was having trouble hearing the music clearly. A thought, perhaps a truth, was starting to form in his mind. It was an uncomfortable idea. Risky. It would not be tolerated well by those in his circle. Nevertheless, the thought persisted until it became a certainty.
The rules of the game had changed and Kevin no longer wanted to play.
A value is a standard to which a person feels strongly connected. It steers our behaviors and allows us to know when something is not quite right in our worlds. It is hard to say when a value is born within a person. Is it genetic? Perhaps environmental, as we observe and emulate those around us? The true scientist would argue for a combination of the two. For the sake of our story, the origin of the value is not important; rather, let us focus on the moment when a value within Kevin floated into his awareness. Kevin did not know he held this value until he felt the effects of its opposite.
What started as a mild thought persisted until it was an idea in his mind. From there it solidified into a certainty. It is at this point that the value was born in Kevin’s space, an event from which it is very hard to turn away.
From the moment this rose into awareness, musical integrity would be at the heart of Kevin’s life.
Moment #3
This brings us to Moment #3, arguably the least dramatic but most impactful to our readers. After wrestling with the implications of his newfound value, Kevin chose to tell Asper Kourt that he needed to step back. This was a difficult decision that was met with resistance; nevertheless, it is the decision that stood. Although the making of this decision is certainly important in the timeline of our story’s protagonist, it is the not awe-invoking moment which I have labeled #3. Let us continue.
Running in parallel with this overall shift, Kevin completed a class project during his last semester at UNM. Working in a group, the task was to create a business plan. His group decided to create a plan for a music-based summer camp program. Having grown up with the joy of summer camps, the project made a lot of sense to him. As fantastic as summer camps were, how much more fantastic would it be to create a music-themed camp? In addition, how many times through the years had he thought to himself, “I bet I could do this even better.”? Though the work put into this group project was fun and collaborative, the completion of the project is still, I regret to inform you, not the previously referred to Moment #3.
Within the events of Kevin’s last semester in college, among the future-related discussions with Asper Kourt, and the inevitable excitement about graduation, there is a tiny moment which we will need to focus intently to see. It is not a large, dramatic moment like performing as an 8th grader in front of high school students. It is not empowering such as when a value emerges. It is simply a decision. I do not know the specificity of when this decision occurred. All I can tell you is that during the last semester of college Kevin had what probably felt like an imperceptible moment in which he decided to enact his group’s business plan. Welcome to Moment #3.
This was not a 10-year plan. This was not a serious undertaking involving spreadsheets, pros and cons, or other types of analytics. There were no goals or expectations. This was simply a decision to take something in line with his values, lean into it, have fun, and discover what would happen next.
This moment was over almost before it began, and so we sometimes discover that it is tiny moments that hold immeasurable power; moments which do not seem to deserve a second thought; moments to which no awe is attached until we realize that without this moment none of us would be here reading this exploration of Kevin’s timeline. Our children would not have benefitted from the wonders of Rock 101. Our worlds would be bereft of an intangible quality of goodness. All of this from the existence (or not) of a moment.
May I Introduce: Summer Sessions
And so we finally arrive at our destination: Summer Sessions. Kevin stepped into the original Summer Sessions of 2011 with 30 kids and several dedicated friends standing beside him. Rich with his knowledge of the positive and negative aspects of the music world, Kevin decided that he would provide a space that honored his newfound value: musical integrity. He would create an environment where there was less compromise and more collaboration. More discovery. More organic creation.
Standing at the boundary between what was and what he might create, he did not know what would happen next but he was dedicated to the synergy of music, fun, and connection. He was intent on creating a space where students would feel comfortable enough to be nothing but themselves. For Kevin, that first summer was magic. It was unknowingly the start of everything yet to come. Despite the fact that Rock 101 has evolved into a business providing a myriad of programs and teaching hundreds of students, Kevin will always consider Summer Sessions to be the cornerstone of Rock 101. Every summer, the original intentions hold firm and he remembers who he is.
Music, according to Kevin, meets you where you’re at and opens the next door. Music requires vulnerability, and so we acknowledge 8th grade Kevin as he takes the stage for the first time. Music requires authenticity, and so we tip our hats to Asper Kourt Kevin as he holds true to his values. Music is belonging and comfort but it also provides spontaneity and newness, and so we are grateful to Kevin for taking the leap in creating these qualities for all of us.
Through the telling of this tale, we have witnessed awe as we looked back at the impact of moments. We are not quite finished with awe just yet. Awe is, at its foundation, a mixture of respect and wonder. If we stand quite still and peer into the future, it is true that we cannot see the specifics of certain events; however, looking where Kevin’s path began, we can feel awe as we ponder the possibilities of where Rock 101 might yet go.
Let’s just see what will happen next, shall we?
