photo by Danny Day
No, the dress code at School of Rock doesn’t involve bow ties and velvet blazers, and students aren’t required to play a red, devil-horned Gibson SG guitar, although that probably wouldn’t be against the rules.
“The biggest question we receive is ‘what do you do?’ They’re confused by it, for many reasons, but mainly because there’s a film and a Broadway show called School of Rock,” says Landon Moore, general manager at School of Rock Memphis, a performance-based music school for young rock-star hopefuls in the Bluff City. “They’re like, ‘So do you have a guy who imitates Jack Black there?’”
Moore says the school has no connection to the 2003 film starring Jack Black — at least outside of a healthy appreciation for classic rock. “We do teach the fundamentals of music, but we teach it through song first. Then we back it up with music theory,” Moore explains. That distinction is what separates School of Rock from traditional music lessons, which are primarily a solo endeavor.
Landon Moore
There’s no substitute for time spent doggedly trying to master an instrument. Hours hunched over a fretboard or piano keys leads to increasingly less fumbling runs through the intro to “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” or “Stairway to Heaven.” It’s what makes musicians. But likewise, there’s no substitute for playing with other musicians. That’s what makes performers. The communication skills necessary to play with other musicians are as vital as pinch harmonics, hammer-ons, and finger picking, if not more so.
That’s why the folks at School of Rock get new students started playing together right away. “It’s not just lessons,” Moore says. “You’re instantly placed with a band, depending on your age, depending on your talent level.” The groups consist of between eight to 15 children of similar ages and skill levels. There are three class levels at School of Rock: Rock 101 for rock-and-roll rookies, Opening Act for the intermediate players, and Performance for the (usually) older and more experienced players.
But if a student works hard enough, they’ll be elevated quickly. “Last season, I had a drummer who was 6 years old in Performance, our highest group, because he practiced so much, and he just breathes drums,” Moore says. The young percussionist, who has now added bass lessons to his studies in his quest to become a rhythm section wunderkind, has already sat in on a few gigs with grown-up musicians. “It checks your ego as a professional musician when you’re hearing some of these kids, and you think, ‘In five years, they’re going to be taking some of my gigs.’”
“This season, we’re doing a tribute to the ’50s,” Moore says. “Fats Domino, Elvis Presley. And you’re never playing with the same kid twice. You might be on the Elvis song with these three people, but then you’re on the Fats Domino song with these other three people.”
photo by Danny Day
It checks your ego as a professional musician when you’re hearing some of these kids, and you think, ‘In five years, they’re going to be taking some of my gigs.’
Also this season, the School of Rock students are covering the entire Beatles “white” album, in addition to performing tributes to Aerosmith, the famed New York punk club CBGB, and a tribute show called “Ladies of the ’80s.” June is the beginning of the summer season, which will bring a new curriculum and new songs, which will change again in the fall.
In one of the school’s more popular seasons, the students covered local bands, with some members from the bands sitting in on the performances. “I had Jody [Stephens] come out, and we did a few Big Star songs,” Moore says before reeling off a list of local celebrities that includes Lucero, Star & Micey, Amy LaVere, Dead Soldiers, Graham Winchester, and James & the Ultrasounds. And it all raised money for the School of Rock scholarship program. “School of Rock doesn’t want to turn anyone away,” Moore says. “We just threw another event at Neil’s, and it raised about $2,500. We have people come in all the time and let us know that, ‘for this amount of time, we need a little help.’ And we’re there to do it.”
But, though covering the classics is the meat and potatoes of the School of Rock soul stew, Moore says, “We offer other things, too, because we’re not just preaching covers. We always have in rotation songwriting camps, recording technology camps, and workshops.”
He continues, “I always tell the kids that learning this music is a great craft, but writing is where the art comes in.”
photo by Stephanie Wexler
Olivia de Witt
One of Moore’s former students, Olivia de Witt, eventually became a bandmate, as she recruited Moore to help form her project Epps. De Witt, currently a sophomore studying journalism at the University of Southern California, studied at School of Rock from 2013 to 2016. Epps’ most recent single, “Losing,” was featured by Trip Hop Nation.
“We didn’t do the standard approach they typically teach,” de Witt says. “It was more of an electronic music approach, but School of Rock still taught me the performance skills and approaching songwriting. It’s definitely applicable to what I was doing.”
De Witt also stresses the value of practicing and performing with different students at different skill levels, explaining that it’s helped her both in other musical collaborations and in interview settings. “You form a different band for each song in your set list, in a way, which can be valuable, because you get to play with all different types of people,” de Wittt says of the rotating performance system. “It’s harder to play with other people than one might think.”
Though her studies demand more of her attention these days, de Witt has been collaborating with some music production majors at USC and says that she has no intention of hanging up her rock-and-roll shoes for good. “College is super demanding, so I haven’t been playing as much as I did in high school,” de Witt says. “But I would definitely love to continue to make music. If it doesn’t work out as a career, that’s not going to stop me from making music.”
And that’s the benefit of having learned to perform. While some kids will want to be the next Led Zeppelin (or the next BlocBoy JB or Tame Impala), most will have an antidote to boredom and loneliness, an instant way to connect with people. All they have to do is pick up a guitar, wait for the downbeat, and start strumming.
Jesse Davis is a staff writer for Contemporary Media. His writing has appeared in the Memphis Flyer, Memphis magazine, In Pieces journal, and The Chester County Independent. He is the host of My Morning Mixtape on WEVL 89.9 FM.