327 Douglass Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn has been in ROCKNYCMUSICLLC partner John Pasquale’s family for a generation as the area has grown from an industrial beehive and slowly been transformed till now, within spitting distance of Barclay Center, it is the latest recipient of the Brooklyn gentrification that has transformed Williamsburg and is expanding to all points in all directions.
“We had our family recycling baled waste paper business there in the 1960s and then rented the space to a company who did the same thing in the 1980s. Then I rented it to the Brooklyn Dog House.” John told me, “and now…”
Last winter I had dinner with John and Mike Addesso, former drummer with Team Spirit and former teacher at School Of Rock franchise himself, Mike had just signed a lease to rent 327 Douglass Street as a “School Of Rock” franchisee and on Saturday March 22nd, the School Of Rock Brooklyn had its eagerly awaited Grand Opening.
School Of Rock is an international franchisor of schools (over 100 in the States alone)which teach music to children till the age of 18, specializing in all aspects of popular music with a much better success rate, and much more fun, than when I was learning how to play “Camptown Races” on a crappy Jap acoustic guitar. In a family friendly yet high five cool environment, the School Of Rock teaches you how to play, how to play in a group, and how to play in public.
Located over the bridge, even for a none driver like me it was easy enough to find, just take the “N” or the “R” to Union Street in Brooklyn, it has a nice central but personable location. I arrived around 3pm Saturday afternoon for the opening and the place was bopping. A line of children and their parents were waiting to sign up near the entrance and further in sandwiches and cake was being scoffed down by the friends and students of SOR.
In one rehearsal hall babies were playing, in another hall three kids were playing keyboards and in yet another a makeshift rock band, the lead singer couldn’t have been 12 years old, were rehearsing Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re An American Band”. “My generation”, John nodded, bobbing and singing along.
Mike himself was all smiles though I couldn’t get a decent quote out of him. So let me steal some from Natalie Musumeci of the New York Daily News: “What is unique about us is that we are performance-based,” he said. “We’re really getting kids out there in the real world and they’re learning from real New York City musicians that are gigging and performing,”
As we left I asked Pasquale, who knows from renting business space, how he thought School Of Rock will do. “Oh, it will do very well,” he said. “You can see they know what they’re doing.” From “Rock 101” to “White Stripes Versus the Black Keys” there are many summer camps to choose from as well as everything from Performance based studies to workshops.
Whether you want your child to be a rock star or just learn an instrument or even make new friends, “School Of Rock” is an absolute blast. I wonder where there’s the “School Of Rock” for middle aged men!
Here is the School Of Rock’s mission statement off their website:
We believe the best way to learn music is to play music. We take students from the lesson room to the stage, developing both their confidence and musicianship with programs designed for all skill levels.
School of Rock teaches guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards, drums and combines weekly private music lessons and group band rehearsals to prepare students to take the stage in front of live audiences in an authentic concert setting.
To date our students have played thousands of concerts, to more than 100,000 people, at such legendary venues as CBGB’s, The Trocadero, The Knitting Factory, The Whiskey, The Roxy, The Experience Music Project, The Big Easy and BB King’s Blues Club in Times Square. We have also had the great fortune to be able to perform at music festivals from Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, to Zappanale in Bad Doberan, Germany.
Our performance-based teaching method is an immersive experience that inspires our students to be their best. We get our students playing music as quickly as possible because we know that that is what our students want to do. As a result our students become more interested in the theory of music.
We deliver an authentic experience using professional equipment, a staff of seasoned musicians, and performances on real rock stages, at real rock venues in front of real live audiences.
Our instructors live to play and play to live. They are experienced professional musicians that can instruct students on the finer points of their instrument, while at the same time educating them on everything that goes into putting on a great live show.
We teach and perform music that our students love to play and our audiences love to hear. From the fundamental roots of rock and roll through classic rock, funk, reggae, heavy metal, alternative, indie and prog rock – we share, engage and celebrate it all.
