School of Rock (company)
The Paul Green School of Rock is a rock music program, first established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1998, by Paul Green. Branches of the school have since been opened across the nation, in states including New York, Utah, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, Washington, New Jersey and others. It teaches kids about rock music and how to be a musician, featuring seasonal shows, private lessons, group rehearsals, workshops, special guests and a growing National Music Festival held each summer.
Education
The program employs many tactics of teaching. There are many teachers per school, all specializing in one or more instruments. Instruments that are available to be learned by students are electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboards, and vocals although the kids often play others such as trumpet, harmonica, etc. There are occasional workshops, where an accomplished ooutside musician may come in and talk to the kids about music, being a rock star, and playing music. Students generally are between the ages of 8-18 to be admitted. NO musical training or experience is necessary to join the school.
Shows
The main purpose of the school is to get the kids onto "real rock stages, for real rock shows".. The mantra for audiences of the schools shows is " Don't come to watch kids play music. Come to watch kids play music well". The students of the program sign up for 3 shows every year. They are given approximately 2-5 choices of different shows to be in per "season" (depending on the size of the branch). Although there are some shows that are harder to play, no matter what the age or skill level, students can sign up for any show (although approval by the show's director is occasionally required). These shows are themed either by band, genre, time period, etc. The shows usually consists of about 20-25 songs that are chosen by the show's director, usually one of the teachers at the school. Three hour rehearsals are held every week in preparation for the show as the students learn the material for the show in their private lessons with teachers and with practicing by themselves. The shows are played at local clubs twice, usually on Friday and Saturday nights. The tickets are usually $12 and the students are obligated to help sell 10 of them to family, friends, and even strangers.
Every season, two of the best songs in each show from regionally located schools are played in a "BEST OF SEASON SCHOLARSHIP FUNDRAISING" show, which is often held at larger well known venues in the city. This event is used to showcase the best musicians, songs and performances in a season in a great rock venue with a great rock crowd.
Shows done in the past include songs of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, The Beatles, Metallica, The Allman Brothers Band, King Crimson, Jimi Hendrix, Van Halen, Progressive Rock, Funk and Reggae, Radiohead, Rocky Horror VS. Hedwig, Best of the 80s/90s, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Who's Tommy, Frank Zappa, Rush, Grunge, and many more.
The All-Stars
The School of Rock All-Stars is a group of the best students from the entiriety of the program, all across the country, hand picked from schools in the program through auditions with Paul Green. They go on tour to play such venues as BB Kings in Times Square, The Knitting Factory in LA and NYC, The Roxy and Crash Mansion in LA, Stubbs in Austin, Hard Rock Cafes, House of Blues, and many of the biggest festivals in the country such as Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, along with many others. They often tour and play with famous musicians from rock's past and present, such as Les Paul,Perry Farrell, Jon Anderson,Peter Frampton, Eddie Vedder,Alice Cooper,Adrian Belew,Napoleon Murphy Brock,Stuart Copeland, John Wetton, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Ike Willis. Tryouts are held once a year, usually in September. The audition requirements are you must play a Led Zeppelin song of with a backing band, and also play a song of their choice. The All-Stars consist of four nationally touring groups. On the East Coast are the Alpha All-Stars, and the Omega All-Stars. There are also a West Coast and Central US All Stars. They are considered by many to be the best touring group of young musicians in the country. All four groups travel and have separate tours.
The Film: Rock School
Rock School is a documentary about the School of Rock. The documentary exhibits the school through the eyes of its founder, Paul Green. A New York Magazine film critic said "Paul Green is letting his students in on a secret of life that goes beyond school, even stuff that looks easy is hard to do well". The film displays him showing off his wide variety of teaching tactics and also how the school affects the lives of the students that attend. Paul Green is seen several times jumping up and down, screaming at kids, and kicking students off stage, all in order to teach them, a controversial tactic that so far, seems to work. As Ken Tucker the NPR Rock critic says it "I would hand out DVDs of Rock School to everyone in the country with a teaching degree in America and dare them to match this level of commitment."
The School of Rock Festival
In June of 2007, The Paul Green School of Rock Music, the "Original School of Rock" unveiled its first School of Rock festival. The two day event at the Jersey Shore in Asbury Park NJ, attracted almost 10,000 people and was arguably the most pure expression of live music education for young musicians ever held. There were 400 kids from School of Rock branches across the USA on five stages at the Jersey Shore side by side with 50 Indie Rock bands and some very special guests. There is also a shred contest which is basically the rock n roll slam dunk competition.