Teens from Northern Nevada attended a music seminar sponsored by the Resident Artist Program in Silver City. Pictured here, participants had morning coffee and donuts on the deck of the Resident Artist housing before getting down to the serious work of making music.
As part of the Resident Artist Program in Silver City’s support for young emerging artists, 16-year-old Mylo McCormick facilitated a music seminar for teens. Youths from Northern Nevada were selected for $350 merit-based scholarships to attend the seminar at McCormick House this week.
Participants shared their favorite music, including their own, and discussed issues connected with trends and compositional techniques over dinner. With instruments available at the seminar, plus their own, they had a chance to try free improvisation. The end product was a collaborative creation of an original composition. Attendees will receive a professional recording of their music.
Participants also took time out to explore historic Silver City, including the town’s new outdoor performance venue in the local park, and took field trips to Virginia City for coffee and Italian sodas at The Roasting House and to Dayton for dinner at Compadres Mexican Restaurant.
Now living in Carson City, Mylo McCormick was born in Silver City. His first performances were with the High Street Band in the four towns of the historic Comstock region — Silver City, Virginia City, Gold Hill and Dayton. He learned to play guitar with Will Rose, a Vegas-born singer/songwriter who was the guitarist for the TV shows Taxi and Cheers and worked with the Four Tops, Lon Bronson’s Big Band, The Platters, and many Broadway musicals and Vegas production shows in addition to his own bands such as Red Rose. Today Mylo is lead guitarist with Mo’z Motley Blues, a popular Tahoe/ Carson Valley/Reno area “rockin’ bluesy funky dance band.”
The Resident Artist Program in Silver City selects people creating in the performing, visual, or literary arts to reside in the town for periods of up to four months, in exchange for offering free performances, exhibitions, workshops, art work, etc. to benefit the Northern Nevada community. The program seeks outcomes of innovative exhibitions and interactive and participatory works, and/or events that explore or transcend art disciplines. One of the goals of the program is to introduce new voices to the community and programs that engage people in becoming lifelong arts and culture participants.