Iowa School of Rock Begins 2nd Year

In the fall of 2006, the Iowa School of Rock was founded. Al and Melita Biela of Ames Music Studios in Ames IA founded the School. The School gave its inaugural concert in November of 2006 in Ames to a nearly sold-out crowd. Many of the students got their very first taste of live performance. The event literally was the talk of Central Iowa. Kids' lives were changed.

Now, early in 2007, the Iowa School of Rock has begun its second session. Enrollment is higher this year with the increased interest in the program. There are 7 full student bands this year with participants ranging in age from 12 to adults. Students are placed in bands by relative age and similarity in musical tastes. The bands are then professionally-coached in an intensive 2-month period of rehearsals which cover the following:

• Song selection
• Naming the band
• Designing band logos
• Promoting the band and concert
• Playing as a band
• Equipment/gear
• Singing and playing with style
• Working together
• Rock appreciation (theory/fundamentals, rock history, etc.)

This program has already created quite a stir in Central Iowa, with considerable regional coverage. The second session promises to be better than the first. There are numerous repeat students from Session 1 who are in Session 2 (in particular one set of three students who were in the same band as last session, and are developing into a very tight unit).

Creativity and team-building are emphasized - the coaches hope to model that by example. The School of Rock Faculty has many years of experience at the various areas of popular music: education, performance, promotion, equipment, live sound, venue management, and more. The rehearsals are essentially hands-on lab sessions: they learn by doing. They are involved with the equipment setup, song selection. It has been a joy to see students learn a bass riff, lock into a verse of a song, or step up to the microphone to sing (for the FIRST time in their lives) and find out that they *CAN* do it.

The Iowa School of Rock hopes to enrich the musical community of Iowa, and give students a model of fun, team-centered creative learning. Students learn that they have become a part of something that is indeed larger than themselves, and that the music does not start or stop with them. Students and their parents walk away from the Iowa SOR experience with a new outlook on rock music.

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