Since rock ’n’ roll has been around, children have dreamed of being in a band. Now, it is more than a feeling. The Flower Mound School of Rock is giving local kids practical training and performance experience to become the next Boston or Blink-182.
Ray Kidd, the music director, is responsible for hiring staff, organizing concerts and selecting music for students to learn and perform. He also teaches rock ’n’ roll history and private lessons.
“It’s basically the equivalency of being the principal at a regular school,” Kidd said. “Except I get to do all the fun stuff, which is music.”
The core of the program is composed of the Rock 101 and the Performance Programs, which include children ages 7 to 17. The school even offers a Kinder Rocker program, for children ages 3 to 6, to introduce students to music and rhythm through games. Kidd also teaches adults.
All programs cost $300 a month, except for the Kinder Rock program, which costs $155 a month, and are ongoing throughout the year. Scholarships are available.
Students get 45-minute private lessons once a week. Depending on age, they also have either an hour and a half or a three-hour band rehearsal. Kidd breaks lessons into 15-minute increments. First, students practice songs assigned for concerts. The next 15 minutes, students learn music theory. Then, Kidd helps students learn whatever they want before the end of the session.
“Every kid that walks in here has a reason that they want to play guitar or they want to play drums or they want to sing,” Kidd said. “They like some band.”
Students pick preselected and scheduled concerts to play each semester. If slots in a particular show are limited, he encourages students to select others. Sometimes he has to tell kids they are not ready for a particular performance.
“I really like teaching and I really like music, so, I mean, it’s like the perfect gig for me,” Kidd said. “I just like seeing kids succeed.”
Success requires practice. Kidd said the leading obstruction to practicing is other extracurricular activities. His biggest competitor is sports.
“The whole way the school works, it’s like a really good peer pressure environment because you want to show up to rehearsal knowing your stuff,” Kidd said. “So it makes kids practice.”
It is rare that a student does not want practice. It is also rare that a kid works hard for three months and backs out of a concert. They are excited to play the show.
“The bottom line is you don’t want to show up and be the weak link in the band,” Kidd said.
The school has played several local venues and events, including Coach Joe’s Hat Tricks, a live music and sports bar in Lewisville. Attendance is high. It has also established a relationship with the Flower Mound High School football booster club, and groups will perform the season’s remaining home games, which is unheard of at the School of Rock. Owner Darryl Williams said the school is looking forward to bringing its all-star band for the Mound Showdown in October between Marcus and Flower Mound.
The school plays free concerts and community events so the kids have the opportunity to get in front of people and play. But the school charges admission for concerts at local venues.
“A big part of our thing is for these kids to get on stage and perform in front of a paying audience,” Williams said.
Students gain confidence performing and learning from paid concerts. Williams said most up-and-coming bands have to sell tickets and promote themselves. Students sell tickets and create posters to learn the promotional part of the industry.
“I love the shows because I like to see them work hard for months and execute well,” Kidd said.
The school offers band coaching to help advanced students and community members who want to start bands. Kidd is trying to convince some of the teenagers to coach this semester in addition to performing school concerts.
“The one most common thing I hear … is I wish we had this when we were kids,” Williams said. “You’re never too old to rock ’n’ roll.”
The adult program is in its infancy at the Flower Mound location but is starting to take off. Many other locations have three or four adult bands.
“We got the interest and we got the people, and it looks like that’s going to happen soon,” Williams said.
Through the program, adults are able to live a dream they missed.
“We provide that opportunity,” Williams said. “I always tell people, we’re the garage for your garage band.”
Kidd views tuition as a club membership fee so students can hang out and do homework or jam at the school. None of the students talked to each other when they first arrived.
“It’s amazing the personality changes that we see of, like, the shy, introverted kid to the, like, ‘I’m confident, let’s go jam or whatever,’ and that’s sweet,” Kidd said. “That’s the sweetest part.”
Now they are all friends and frequently hang out, both in and out of the school.
“They used to always quote this school as being a safe haven for misfit kids and that is true,” Kidd said. “But man, it’s also a really safe environment to come here and be loud and rowdy and have something to do.”
Williams said the school is a great alternative for kids who might not fit into traditional school cliques. It gives them a place to hang out with other musicians, perform together and have common interests, he said.
“Now they don’t have a fit for them,” Williams said. “We provide that fit.”
Williams has two grandchildren who attended the Southlake-Keller School of Rock.
“I saw what it was doing not only for them, but for other kids, and I always want to make that clear,” Williams said. “I thought, ‘Yeah, this is really cool. I wish I had gotten involved in something like this.’”
Williams said that very thing to Dean Tarpley and Terry Longway, who own all the Dallas-Fort Worth schools. Williams was approaching retirement but did not want to retire. Next thing he knew, Tarpley was sitting at his kitchen table discussing the Flower Mound opportunity.
The school had strong interest before opening at 3501 Long Prairie Road, Suite 102, in Flower Mound. People would see the sign when eating at Jersey Mike’s or visiting the barbershop next door. Kidd said the main reason for the school’s continued success is its location.
“I don’t know if we could have been received any better,” he said.
Paul Green established a permanent location for the first Paul Green School of Rock Music in Philadelphia in 2002, just one year before Paramount released School of Rock (2003) featuring Jack Black. Now, the for-profit company has seven locations in the area and franchises in seven countries.
Lewisville/Flower Mound editor Adam Schrader can be reached at 214-773-8188.
On Twitter: @schrader_adam
