There are probably quite a few working bands on the East Coast who would pay good money to sit in on a workshop run by Vicki Savoula and Amanda MacKaye. The Black Cat talent buyer and the Fort Reno summer concert series organizer held a masterclass yesterday to teach a group of aspiring musicians how to approach booking their bands at some of D.C.'s most famous venues. Didn't get an invite? That's probably because you're not a girl between the ages of eight and 18.

The week-long Girls Rock!DC summer camp came to a close today, the first of its kind in the Washington area. Over the course of the camp, 43 D.C. area girls received instrument lessons, music history classes, and practical workshops designed to teach them the ins and outs of how the music scene really works. They also formed a total of eight bands, with names ranging from Burning Flowers to Global Rave, that were each tasked with composing and arranging a single song. All eight bands will be performing their original songs at the Camper Showcase at the 9:30 Club on Saturday.

Girls ages 8 to 11 learned the basics of how to mike a guitar in an audio workshop at the Girls Rock!DC summer camp. (Sommer Mathis)

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Girls Rock!DC is clearly a labor of love for the 60 to 70 volunteers, all women, who have been involved in organizing, teaching and producing the camp. Conceived and run by a large core group of committed musicians, music industry insiders, artists and just plain old women who thought it sounded like a lot of fun, it was hard to tell who was more thrilled to be at camp this week: the campers or the adults.

"I would have loved to have had the opportunity to do this when I was young," explained Allison Krayer, a volunteer drums instructor. "When I was 14 and started playing, I didn't know a single other girl drummer."

Nearly all of the equipment, including the space (at the Kingsbury Day School, 5000 14th St. NW) for the camp came from donations from the community. Camp spokesperson Ebony Dumas said the Atomic Music Stores were especially helpful in making sure they had all the instruments, cables and pedals the girls would need.

In a room named after Ann and Nancy Wilson, girls aged eight to 10 got a basic lecture on how to mike a guitar properly and how amps work while band posters for Heart and Smashing Pumpkins hung in the background.

Upstairs, Savoula and MacKaye let girls aged 11 to 13 in on a secret about how to get booked more often at Fort Reno or the Black Cat: send them follow-up thank you emails after every show. Even in rock, politeness matters.

Things were a little more tense in the band practice rooms. With only two days left before taking the world famous 9:30 Club stage, the members of Global Rave were still hammering out their lyrics and trying to figure out a way to practice minus their keyboardist, who had missed camp that day.

MacKaye says that among other things, she thinks the camp offers girls a more realistic look at what it's like to be in a working band.

"It's not necessarily because you pick up a guitar, suddenly you're playing the Verizon Center," she said, in a nod to the overwhelming popularity of Disney Channel character Hannah Montana. Instead, MacKaye hopes the girls at camp gain an appreciation for the intimate relationship to music making being heavily involved in a local music scene can provide.

Overall though, the message of Girls Rock!DC is female empowerment. The women who run this camp want to make sure their younger counterparts know that they can be the future of the music scene if they want to be, and that a community exists to help them get there.

And even if the girls won't end up magically becoming international teen sensations, they will have their chance at a rock dream this Saturday. The 9:30 Club Girls Rock!DC Camper Showcase begins at 11 a.m. and runs until 1 p.m. Tickets are $5 to $10 on a sliding scale, and available at the door.