{"id":1566,"date":"2017-05-10T14:30:19","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T14:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=1566"},"modified":"2017-05-10T19:21:00","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T19:21:00","slug":"tstc-student-tunes-in-to-music-and-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=1566","title":{"rendered":"TSTC Student Tunes in to Music and Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

(WACO) \u2013 Camp Neff is proving to be good with his hands.<\/span><\/p>\n

Neff, 22, of Franklin, Texas, is a Robotics Technology major at Texas State Technical College. He is also a dual threat playing banjo and table tennis — but not at the same time.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Neff is not studying direct and alternating currents or the basics of robotics, he is playing banjo with the Fence Post Pickers featuring Charles and John Kirk as accompanying vocalists. The band performs throughout the Brazos Valley.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe stick to tried, true and classic bluegrass and country,\u201d Neff said, citing the late banjo picker Earl Scruggs as one of his favorite musicians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Neff received the Gibson Top Tension banjo he currently plays as a birthday gift when he was 16.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cInstruments sound better the older they are,\u201d he said. \u201cThe banjo has broken me out of any rut I was in before. I play the banjo and keep people happy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Neff was home-schooled and participated in high school robotics competitions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to do all the work yourself,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to have study time. You can\u2019t do home schooling if you aren\u2019t self-motivated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This discipline has helped him in his robotics classes, said Brandon McMahan, a TSTC graduate and Robotics Technology instructor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a great student,\u201d McMahan said. \u201cHe is a leader in the classroom.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Robotics Technology program is based in the Robotics and Automation Lab in TSTC\u2019s \u00a0Electronics Center. McMahan said class sizes average 10 students who are divided up to work with robots.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can go straight into the job market,\u201d McMahan said. \u201cWe teach students to be entry-level technicians.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Neff is scheduled to graduate from TSTC in spring 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to travel and go from a distribution center to a factory to fix what does not work,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to see what is out there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Neff grew up on a ranch in Robertson County.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would stare for a half-hour at sugar ants to see what they were doing,\u201d he said. \u201cNature is vast and complicated, and I experienced it growing up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Neff discovered the banjo when he was 12 while at a concert with his family.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounded so different from the other instruments that I knew it was the one,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I\u2019m happy or sad, I can play and emote.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Colee Littlefield, co-owner of Magnolia-based Texas Bluegrass Music LLC, said she admired Neff\u2019s talent.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great that he started young,\u201d said Littlefield. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to train your fingers when they are nice, nimble and young. You are not concentrating as hard as you get older.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Littlefield\u2019s company organizes yearly bluegrass festivals in Bellville and Grapeland.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe banjo player is pretty necessary for bluegrass,\u201d she said. \u201cNot every bluegrass band has a fiddle or a Dobro, but they usually have a banjo, mandolin, guitar and stand-up bass. Those are the four basic instruments.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Neff also found his way to table tennis when he was 12. He primarily plays the game at TSTC\u2019s Murray Watson Jr. Student Services Center. He recently won the table tennis competition at Techsan Day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA friend and I would play casually with a tennis ball when I was growing up,\u201d he said. \u201cI loved it and could be competitive with training. It is something to pass the time to keep from getting bored.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information on Texas State Technical College, go to tstc.edu.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Camp<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(WACO) \u2013 Camp Neff is proving to be good with his hands. Neff, 22, of Franklin, Texas, is a Robotics Technology major at Texas State Technical College. He is also a dual threat playing banjo and table tennis — but not at the same time. When Neff is not studying direct and alternating currents or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-waco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1566"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1568,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1566\/revisions\/1568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}