School of Rock’s budding shredders take to online lessons

School of Rock East Lansing Remote

locations.schoolofrock.com/eastlansing

School of Rock East Lansing, a musical education program that focuses on — you guessed it — rock ‘n’ roll, isn’t quite ready to pack up its Stratocasters and Flying V’s in face of the coronavirus. A new mentoring program, School of Rock Remote, utilizes face-to-face online communication tools like Zoom and digital sheet music databases to create remote-access classrooms for students and instructors.

Lessons are conducted by having students connect to the Zoom video chat room with their teacher. The teacher and student then run through that day’s techniques, or work on learning a new song by the likes of Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd.

“We have existing students that have converted over to this program, as we’re unable to have in person lessons,” said School of Rock East Lansing co-owner Jon Jackinchuk. “We simply send them a Zoom meeting link for each of the lessons; they connect with their teachers and they’re able to work on techniques and songs.”

So far, 43 students — with differing skill levels and ages ranging from 3 to 50 — are taking the online courses. Parents of potential students that are unsure of the viability of online music lessons are permitted to try a sample lesson before enrolling into a full schedule. If they don’t dig the Zoom format, they can continue without paying for future lessons.

Despite it being a new experience for School of Rock East Lansing’s teachers, Jackinchuk says they are adapting to the Zoom teaching format with ease.

“School of Rock has put together a lot of good instruction manuals, tips and techniques,” Jackinchuk said. “We hold weekly calls to discuss things are working, and things we can do better. We are always looking on how to improve and provide the best possible experience. I’m really pleased with how our instructors have dove into it.”

Jackinchuk believes in the power of music to provide inspiration and hope in times of tremendous stress. With school canceled and many people left unemployed, artistic outlets can prove to be a much more productive time killer than wasting away on the couch.

“Music is always a very positive outlet. We’re keeping it going. Although they can’t physically connect, students are able to see each other and talk about how their day is going,” Jackinchuk said. “They don’t have to stop just because they’re confined to their homes.”

School of Rock Remote also provides a 60-day trial to Sheet Music Direct, a large database of online sheet music. Students are able to access thousands of songs for a variety of instruments, ranging anywhere from vocals to piano. It also includes the School of Rock Method app, an easily accessible portal of songs and exercises to help build music theory knowledge. Instructors can use the Method app to give students regular assignments.

While learning an instrument can be a viable, healthy outlet in the time of self-imposed quarantines, and School of Rock East Lansing is doing its best with digital classes, nothing compares to the face-to-face experience, Jackinchuk said. He eagerly awaits the day students can play together again.

“We’re all looking forward to when we get back to in person — especially with what we do. We teach private lessons, but we also have band lessons,” he said. “Our students get together every week and they work on their performance. That’s something we can’t replicate.”