School of Rock Austin is excited to celebrate its ten year anniversary. Performing its 100th show this upcoming season, the Austin School has seen over a thousand students grace Austin’s stages as part of its performance-based rock music program.
To celebrate ten years of rock, The Austin School of Rock is giving a 10% discount to all new sign-ups for performance programs for the duration of this anniversary season (October 2015 – January 2016).
School of Rock Austin was the 8th school founded in the School of Rock family back in 2005. Since then, they’ve produced nearly 100 shows, with the 100th falling in this ten year anniversary season. Over the past ten amazing years, in the quest to redefine music education and foster the next generation of great musical artists, the Austin SoR has taught over 2000 different songs across multiple genres including Rock, Metal, Prog, Punk, Blues, Pop, Indie, Jazz, Funk, Country, Soul and Alternative.
In keeping with the performance based education mantra, Austin SoR students have had the opportunity to play in iconic local venues like Stubbs, Emo’s, Antone’s and The Mohawk as well as venues around the country as part of the SoR Allstars program. Austin students have played alongside some of the legends of rock including James Williamson (the Stooges), Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction), Robert Trujullio (Metallica, Suicidal Tendencies), Peter DeStefano (Porno for Pyros), Buddy Miles (Jimi Hendrix), Rosie Flores, Adrian Quesada (Grupo Fantasma, Brownout), Jon Anderson (Yes) and Brent Hinds (Mastodon).
This year alone, Austin students will perform at Austin City Limits Festival (for the 7th year running), Lollapalooza (Chicago), Summerfest (Milwaukee) and The University of Texas DKR Memorial Stadium as the official Texas Longhorns Fan Fest Band.
The tenth anniversary season also sees a special return to the first show produced by the Austin School: Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” with all proceeds from the show going to the Rock School Scholarship Fund (RSSF). The RSSF is a 501(c)3 public charity which administers scholarships for low income children ages 7 to 17 who want to attend any rock music school in the USA. This enables the School of Rock to offer scholarships to talented students in difficult financial circumstances to continue their rock music education.
“Our original motto was ‘Saving Rock and Roll One Kid at a Time’ and I still believe that we are doing just that” said Rick Carney, Music Director at the Austin School of Rock, who’s also celebrating his ten year anniversary with the School of Rock. “In this day and age of instant gratification and overstimulation, it’s refreshing to see kids embrace their instruments as a way to empower themselves. The School of Rock is grounded in an era of music that was revolutionary, but we don’t see the revolution as over. It continues to live in these kids.”
The School of Rock Performance Programs make a huge difference in the lives of students, not just building their musical careers, but building confidence and the hard-working spirit to achieve their goals in life. The Austin School of Rock is lucky enough to have several alumni return to the school to teach the next generation of young musicians. “Going through the School of Rock in Austin was an amazing opportunity for me. It really helped begin building a solid career in the music industry,” said Geena Spigarelli, a veteran of the Austin SoR who now teaches bass at the school, and is one of Austin’s most in-demand bassists. “It’s fantastic being able to give something back to the kids and to the School.”
For more information on The School of Rock Austin or to take advantage of this special anniversary special, please visit the School’s website or call 512-822-1763
Images courtesy of John Clark.
