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The Paul Green School of Rock, Highland Heights is pleased to announce our new Vocal Instructor, Jaclyn Bradley
Music is Jaclyn’s first language. Singing since the early age of three, her voice has been her vehicle to experiencing the world. It is the vessel that placed her at Indiana University where she received a BM in Vocal Performance. After graduation, Jaclyn longed to break free from the reigns of classical and explore the rock music that she had always loved. She immersed herself in rock and began writing, recording and performing in New York and Los Angeles. She has played legendary venues (Whiskey a-go-go, Viper Room, Key Club), sang alongside the greats: Ty Stone (Atlantic Records), Terri Nunn (Berlin) and Vivian Campbell (Def Leppard), and partied with the likes of Kid Rock, Bob Seeger, Alice Cooper, C.C. Deville (Poison), and Lemmy Kilmister (Mötorhead)- just to name a few. Jaclyn appeared on both seasons of the hit TV show, Breaking Bonaduce with Danny and Gretchen Bonaduce and has had several songs licensed for TV and Film. Jaclyn has been featured in both Cleveland Magazine and The Cleveland Scene (along with Music Connection and Maverick magazines in LA and UK respectively). Her albums are available at Barnes and Noble. Through Rock music, Jaclyn has been fortunate enough to share her soul and talent with the world. She also loves sharing her excitement and experience with young rock singers. When it comes to music, for Jaclyn, there has never been a back-up plan.
To hear her voice and music go to: www.jaclynbradley.com
School of Rock Music students present Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1212222710195010.xml&coll=2&thispage=3
Pink Floyd's "The Wall" isn't your standard spring musical, but that's what young students from the Paul Green School of Rock Music in Highland Heights are putting on this weekend at the Grog Shop.
The club in Cleveland Heights was packed Friday night with family and friends. An encore performance is set for this evening.
Pink Floyd released "The Wall" in 1979, long before the players in the School of Rock Music's adaptation were born. Conceived by band co-founder Roger Waters, the double album (later made into a movie) is a dark affair dealing with fascism and oppression, among other heavy themes. Put it this way: It's no "Oklahoma!"
The best-known song, "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)," proclaims: "We don't need no education!"
Extra-curricular music education is another matter, apparently. It's cool at the School of Rock Music, where classical studies involve Led Zeppelin, not ancient Greek history. Aspiring rockers between the ages of 6 and 17 take private lessons there weekly.
"I'd heard of Pink Floyd before this, but I hadn't really looked into them," said keyboardist Matt Slodov, 10, of Pepper Pike.
"I like all kinds of music, but I like rock 'n' roll best," he said.
Singer-bassist Martha Dittoe of Solon stars as Pink. It's a step up from her last role, a bit part in "Beauty and the Beast" at Solon High School. She will take classic rock over Walt Disney any day.
"I know The Wall' was a really big album," said Martha, 15. "I love it."
Her father was in the opening-night audience, looking on proudly.
"I hated Pink Floyd when I was growing up," Pat Dittoe admitted. "I was more into Lynyrd Skynyrd."
Nonetheless, he gave high marks to the show.
"The kids are great - and they're just kids," he said.
The production is no-frills - minus costumes, props or scenery. If you want to see school kids marching into a giant meat grinder, you will have to rent the 1982 big-screen version.
These kids had their hands full just getting the music down.
They had their next-to-last rehearsal last Saturday afternoon at the school. Posters of the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix decorated the walls, along with a sheet of paper spelling out the "commandments" of the practice space. Among the rules: "Parents are hereby banished from this room."
Tommy Rich, the school's tousle-haired music director, twirled a drumstick and punched the air to signal cues.
"It was close," he declared after a rough version of "Young Lust."
Mature topics and occasionally coarse lyrics can be par for the course.
"I tell parents: This is rock 'n' roll school," said Rich, who has played drums with Donnie Iris' Cruisers and numerous local bands.
"There is some language in rock 'n' roll," Rich said. "We don't censor any lyrics."
Still, he won't make students perform a song if it makes them or their parents uncomfortable.
"Ninety percent of the parents are like, 'They hear this stuff on the playground anyway,' " Rich said.
No, the school doesn't teach budding Eddie Van Halens how to close their eyes and grit their teeth when cutting loose with a guitar solo.
"If you force that stuff, it becomes affectation," Rich said. "That's not what we're here to teach. We're here to make musicians."
Green, a former bar-band guitarist, opened the first School of Rock Music a decade ago in Philadelphia. Now there are 40 other locations from coast to coast. They're not affiliated with the 2003 Jack Black film "School of Rock," although the School of Rock Music lays claim to inspiring the Hollywood version.
The Highland Heights branch opened in February, just over a year after a West Side branch opened in Rocky River.
Tucked away in an office park, the East Side school has 18 students. Fourteen of them appear in "The Wall." They began rehearsing in March.
Practice made perfect for guitarist Anthony Hitch, 17, of Mayfield Heights, who nailed his "Comfortably Numb" solo.
"I've been listening to Pink Floyd since I was 2 years old," he said.
Unfortunately, Anthony won't be able to make tonight's show.
"He's going to the Eric Clapton concert at Blossom," Rich said.
With a grin, he added: "I excused that absence."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
jsoeder@plaind.com, 216-999-4562
Space Still available in our...SUMMER ROCK DAY CAMP 2008
July 28 - Aug 1
Our Rock Music Day Camp is an immersive summer day camp experience to hone music performance and ensemble skills and have fun!
Students spend a week working in a hands-on atmosphere filled with:
-Learning new songs and their parts for the ultimate performance
-Rehearsing with a band to perfect song parts
-Demonstrating songs for school members and staff daily
-Interacting with other young musicians
-Learning from music professionals who will share their experience and knowledge
-Exploring a secondary instrument and perhaps performing with it
-Performing songs in a final concert for family and friends
We know from experience that playing in a band situation speeds learning and creates seasoned musicians. Even relatively advanced musicians are amazed at the amount of progress they make when regularly playing with other musicians.