Her focus is on music
CHS junior picked to attend Grammy-sponsored camp
Jillian Grutta started playing piano seven years ago.
She watched her stepbrother play and began teaching herself.
Years later, she picked up a guitar and did the same.
Eventually, she picked up a pen, too, and started writing her own songs.
This week the Coeur d’Alene High junior will take a break from performing at local coffee shops and fly to Southern California, where she’ll spend two weeks learning about music from Grammy Award-winning and nominated musicians and songwriters.
“I would love to be the singer/songwriter out there some day,” Grutta said.
She hopes Grammy Camp will be the first step toward a career doing what she loves most.
The Grammy Foundation, which works to promote education and appreciation of music in America, selected Grutta as one of 63 high school students throughout the country to attend the camp. She submitted videos of herself performing two songs she had written, along with a video essay explaining why she should be picked to attend Grammy Camp.
Tuition for the camp is $2,500.
Her mother, Laura Narolski, sees it as a small price for the exposure her daughter could have.
“It’s an education from the top industry people,” Narolski said.
It’s also a chance to explore all areas of the music industry – from performance to market, producing and engineering, Narolski said.
“What’s really cool is you get to meet actual famous artists and composers,” Grutta said.
Her focus will be on songwriting, taught by Andrea Stolpe – a multiplatinum songwriter and artist who has written songs recorded by artists including Faith Hill, Josh Gracin, Daniel Lee Martin, Julianne Hough and Steve Azar.
The songs Grutta writes focus on common themes for a teenage girl.
“It seems love is part of my songs,” she said, though she adds the lyrics aren’t necessarily about her. Often, the songs are inspired by what she sees her friends going through in their lives.
“I-want-him-but-he-doesn’t- want-me type of situations,” she said.
Her favorite song is “Never Too Late.” The message: Don’t give up. Ever.
“It’s about opportunity and not to pass up opportunity,” Grutta said. She doesn’t know how to write music, so she plucks her guitar by memory. She practices often so she’ll remember each chord.
She sings: “When you look back in time/You wonder how it went so fast/First we are young/But soon we’ll toast to our last/Last breath of life/But from now until then let’s enjoy this ride.”