West Hartford 2023 Fall Season Announcement
Every four months we announce the show lineup for our performance programs. For the 2023 Fall season, West Hartford has eight show themes that are sure to resonate with our students. The eight shows are Best of 2010s, Friends of Foo, Michael Jackson vs. Prince, Modern Metal, Woodstock, Zappa, Heart, and The Strokes vs. Yeah Yeah Yeahs. (Show descriptions follow below) Shows fill up quickly so contact our Front Desk soon for more info and to enroll: westhartford@schoolofrock.com 860-973-7625. Rehearsals start the week of September 4th.
Our two introductory programs for kids with no or limited prior experience are Rookies and Rock 101. Rookies is a music program designed for kids ages 6-7 with no previous musical experience. Students have one weekly group lesson where they learn musical fundamentals like chords, rhythm and song structure. Rookies’ students also learn and experiment with multiple instruments, so they are then able to decide which one they ultimately want to continue pursuing in Rock 101.
Rock 101, for kids ages 8-13, offers a weekly group rehearsal where they learn classic rock songs that have been arranged and simplified specifically for beginner musicians. These rehearsals are all about getting young musicians to learn the fundamentals of their instrument and playing with a band in a positive and fun atmosphere. Students also have a weekly private music lesson where they learn foundational music and instrument skills and concepts.
The Performance Program, for kids ages 8 to 18, is School of Rock's hallmark music program. It consists of a weekly group rehearsal where students work with a band composed of their peers to play rock music's most iconic songs. Students are assigned songs and parts that are tailored to them based on their age, experience, and opportunity to learn new skills and concepts. Students then work through their parts in weekly private music lessons to refine the skills and concepts that those songs introduce. The goal of this curriculum is to prepare students for live performances. Every few months, Performance Program students take the stage and play at local music venues in front of a real audience.
Experiencing live performance is the core of our curriculum. Our students grow as individuals by taking the stage with others. When our students work with bandmates, they learn broader life skills like collaboration, compromise and courage. We call this revolutionary approach to music education The School of Rock Method™. The School of Rock Method builds musical proficiency through our proprietary Method App, Method Book collection, SongFirst approach, and Performance Based Music Education. Our Method has been awarded a US patent making our teaching system available nowhere else.
West Hartford's 2023 Fall Performance Program Show lineup, in addition to Rookies & Rock 101 includes:
Best of 2010s
School of Rock pays tribute to the past decade of Rock and Roll! The 2010s proved that rock and roll is alive and well with diverse artists such as Adele, Imagine Dragons, Tame Impala, H.E.R., and St. Vincent all rising to prominence in the music world. These current artists combine modern production techniques with retro-sounding riffs and song structures, resulting in today's chart-topping hits. While music itself has generally evolved somewhat from decades past - less guitar solos, more keyboards, and more influence from Hip Hop and R&B - the spirit of Rock and Roll remains as vital as ever. This show will be a stylistically diverse recap of the best music from the decade, featuring modern takes on Punk (Green Day, My Chemical Romance), Blues (Gary Clark Jr., Black Keys), Pop (Taylor Swift, Katy Perry), Rock and Roll (Greta Van Fleet, The Dead Weather), and more! A great show for students of any instrument and experience level.
Friends of Foo
Friends of Foo (aka The Dave Grohl Show) is a killer show that covers quite a lot of musical ground on all instruments, featuring Grohlʼs work with Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, Probot, and more. This music is centered in the Hard Rock aesthetic but ranges from Grunge to Punk to Metal to Prog. Best known for his work in Foo Fighters and Nirvana, Dave Grohl is unanimously admired throughout the entertainment industry and continues to be a force to be reckoned with in the modern music scene. The Friends of Foo show is ideal for guitarists of every experience level, in that it encompasses a wide range of skills and techniques - from Nirvana’s rhythmic yet aggressive strumming to the Foo Fighters’ melodic and driving octaves to Queens of The Stone Age’s heavy but quirky leads and solos. Dave Grohl is especially well-known for his prowess behind the kit making this show a favorite for drummers.
Michael Jackson vs. Prince
Michael Jackson and Prince - there were, arguably, no two bigger superstars in the '80s. MJʼs Thriller and Prince’s Purple Rain were perhaps the most iconic recordings of the entire decade and cemented each artist’s place in music history. In 1982, MJ released one of the greatest albums of all time, Thriller. The album would bring unprecedented success for Michael, topping the Billboard 200 for an impressive 37 weeks and becoming the first album to ever contain seven top-10 singles. Michael would not release another solo album for 5 years, returning in 1987 with the highly anticipated album, Bad. Although his output in the 1980s was limited to just two solo albums, the unprecedented massive success of both Thriller and Bad earned Michael Jackson the title as the undisputed “King of Pop.”
Prince is hailed as one of the greatest musicians of his generation. Not only was he a guitar virtuoso, but he was also a prodigal multi-instrumentalist who played every instrument on his early albums, including bass, drums, and keyboards. Prince scored his commercial breakthrough in 1982 with the album 1999. The album became Prince’s first top-10 album, and the title track was his first international mega hit. Prince exploded back onto the scene with the hit film and accompanying soundtrack, Purple Rain. The album became Prince’s first number-one album, holding the top spot for an impressive 6 consecutive months, and featured the number-one hits, “Purple Rain”, “Let’s Go Crazy”, and “When Doves Cry.” This show will have plenty of opportunities for students to contribute on a variety of instruments in a wide range of styles, and there will surely be challenging moments where students at all levels can learn something new.
Modern Metal
The Modern Metal show traces the evolution of metal music from the turn of the century to the present day and focuses on bands who kept the virtuosic spirit of metal alive while incorporating more contemporary techniques into their sound, such as an emphasis on melody and harmony, and modern studio production. Artists such as Disturbed and Slipknot rose to prominence with the popularity of Nu-Metal, while Metalcore bands such as Killswitch Engage and The Dillinger Escape Plan brought the genre into the 2010s. The Modern Metal show will celebrate this next generation of metal artists - including Avenged Sevenfold, Tool, Baroness, Gojira, System of a Down, Lamb of God, Mastodon, and more! This is a super challenging show for all instruments, as the speed and precision of this music requires quite a bit of proficiency to master.
Woodstock
In 1969, almost half a million people made a pilgrimage to Yasgurʼs Farm in upstate New York for three days of peace and music. Catapulting many iconic artists who played this landmark music festival into superstar status, Woodstock embodies the spirit of the 60s. It was a watershed moment for Rock and Roll, and this show celebrates the legendary, and very stylistically diverse, artists who promoted unity and embraced freedom of expression while performing at the festival. Songs by The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Janis Joplin, Sly & The Family Stone, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Grateful Dead and more make this show an exciting and well-balanced educational challenge for all instruments and experience levels!
Zappa
Parental Advisory: Some lyrical content may not be appropriate for all students.
Frank Zappa is one of rock and roll’s true icons, and this show is perhaps as advanced as the School of Rock curriculum gets. An incredibly talented and prolific guitar player, composer, arranger, and producer, Zappa released more than 60 albums in his lifetime. At the very heart of it, Zappa was a rock musician, but his work traversed countless styles and genres from rock to pop to prog to classical to metal to jazz and beyond - sometimes all in the same song! His music is characterized by highly technical instrumental arrangements offset by satirical and goofy lyrics, and his backing bands were among the tightest and most proficient to ever be assembled. Since Zappa employed the most proficient musicians to record and tour with, all of the featured songs will be challenging for all instrumentalists. Students in the Frank Zappa show will experience what is likely the most musically diverse and technically challenging show that School of Rock offers.
Heart
Heart rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hugely successful hits. Fronted by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, Heart fused influences including hard rock, folk, and prog, into a sound that was uniquely their own. Formed in the late '60s in Seattle, Washington by members Steve Fossen on bass, Roger Fisher on guitar, Don Wilhelm on guitar, keys and lead vocals, and Ray Schafer on drums. Ann Wilson joined in 1970, changing the name once more to Hocus Pocus for a time, but the band eventually settled on simply, Heart. Ann’s sister Nancy was eventually convinced to join in 1973. In the mid '70s Heart began to find success into internationally with songs like “Crazy on You” and “Magic Man”. Through the '80s and '90s, Heart continued on the billboard charts achieving number one hits with the songs “These Dreams” and “Alone”. One of the most successful bands in Rock history, Heart offers students the opportunity for a challenging show that covers a lot of musical ground, from their proggy, guitar-heavy '70s compositions to their radio-friendly and synth-driven '80s material. Masterful technicians on guitar and vocals, the Wilson sisters continue to be a huge inspiration for young girls. Heart is a great show for intermediate and advanced kids of all instruments and will also offer beginners a welcome opportunity to shine, especially on their well-known '80s ballads.
The Strokes vs. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Two facets of Indie Rock, The Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs represent the alternative revival in the early 2000s. The Strokes found influence in Pearl Jam, The Velvet Underground, and The Doors while Yeah Yeah Yeahs from Blondie, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The Pretenders, giving this show a combination of sounds and feels that other alternative bands simply cannot create. With hits like “Maps”, “Last Nite”, “The Adults are Talking”, and “Y Control” students will get to experience the indie alternative scene from two directions. The Strokes use striking guitar, repetitive drums, and the unique tone of lead singer Julian Casblancas to twist the sounds of the 80ʼs and 90ʼs rock scenes into a finely sculpted and pervasive wall of sound. Using synth, guitar, drums and bass you’ll find yourself fist pumping and jumping to a wild combination of punk/pop/and EDM, layered sharply on top is the haunting voice of Karen O, who give listeners a punk and goth style topping to the band’s otherwise disco and indie sound. This show will give keyboardists plenty of synth lead experience while allowing drummers, guitarists, and bassists to learn the importance of holding down a solid rhythm section.