The Paul Green School of Rock Music - Curriculum

Curriculum

The schools operate year round, offering a variety of programs. During the school year, they function as an after-school program, and during summer, winter and spring breaks they offer a day camp for intensive instruction.

The Burnsville, MN location originated an early childhood music education known as Little Wing, after the Jimi Hendrix song. Children age two to three participate with a parent in the Rockin’ Robin class, and children age four to six participate as part of a drop-off class known as Free Bird. The program of 45 minute sessions is being rolled out to other locations.

At age seven, students can begin weekly lessons in the instrument of their choice in Rock 101 classes. Once a student has basic competence in an instrument, they can move to the Performance Program where they have a weekly one-on-one private lesson and three hours weekly of group band rehearsal that culminates in a concert before an audience. Alternatively, they can move to Lessons+ that features the private instruction only.

The most skilled students of each school form a band and perform at various venues in their city, opening for established regional and national acts. The top 2.5% of each school can audition to become an All-Star. Many schools have songwriting and recording programs as well. In 2011 they introduced two new programs – Band Coaching for existing bands to improve aspects of their performance and Epic Albums where students spend three to four months recording their own version of Nirvana's Nevermind, Radiohead's OK Computer, Led Zeppelin IV, Green Day's Dookie and Black Sabbath's Master of Reality.

Most School instructors are working musicians with ongoing careers in rock music and a number are graduates of the program. Instructors are encouraged to stress the fundamentals of both popular music and music theory, using songs from popular bands and artists like Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, and music from genres such as 1980s glam metal, punk rock, and grunge. The teachers generally specialize in a single instrument, though many have skills in additional instruments and students are encouraged to learn multiple instruments. Instruction is available in electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboards, and vocals.

The students are paired with others of similar abilities to form bands, and assigned a band coach. Dependence upon their peers is credited with being more effective than their own parents at ensuring practice discipline.

There are occasional Guest Professor workshops featuring accomplished musicians, which include discussions about past experiences, songwriting, live performance, and handling fame. Previous Guest Professors include Jon Anderson, Earl Slick, Dave Stewart, Mike Watt and former Santana drummer Michael Shrieve. The guest may also spend time assisting the students on their technique.

Various locations have launched a Grad School program for those older than 18 who wish to participate in a performance based music education program. 5 weeks of 45 minute private lessons are followed by 10 weeks of professionally guided two hour rehearsals leading up to a pair of full length concerts.

In 2012, the School branched out with a variation on the traditional Catskill Mountains summer camp with Metal Camp: Mayhem In The Mountains, an intensive week-long event for musicians age 12 to 18, leading up to a concert. The Guest Professors for the 2012 event were "Metal" Mike Chlasciak - guitarist with Halford, Sebastian Bach and Testament, a teacher at the Chatham location and Jason McMaster - bassist with Watchtower, Dangerous Toys and Ignitor who teaches at the School of Rock Austin. The 2013 event will run from August 19 through 24, 2013, and will cost participants $1,299. Chlasciak will again be Guest Professor. Time Out: New York ranked it as one of the best summer camps for kids near New York City.

Fees vary depending on program participation and school location, but it is in the range of "a couple hundred dollars a month." As of May 2012, enrollment at the Wichita, Kansas location started at $225 a month, and $250 a month at the Cleveland, OH location as of July 2012. The School has partnered with MySafeSchool to ensure the safety of their students.

In August 2010, Wendy Winks and Carl Restivo, the former heads of the Hollywood branch, formed The Rock School Scholarship Fund, a tax-deductible 501(c)3 charitable organization to provide instruments and tuition for deserving students of any rock music school in the United States.