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| - I was conflicted about writing this review but in the end I decided to just do it, because I really care about kids and music education, and I suspect our family isn't the only one who had a mixed experience. School of Rock provides a fun and highly motivating alternative to traditional music lessons which require discipline and patience, something a lot of kids are short on. It's also great for the social/emotional benefits. My shy kids performed on a stage and improved their confidence, expressed themselves, they got to know other kids, they had awesome role models in their teachers and the older more accomplished students, and they got familiar with some great music. I can't say enough positive things about the excellent teachers there--Harley and Jessica were amazing and my kids loved learning from them and clearly admire and were inspired by them. The other parents that we met seemed cool too.
Having said that, I have a few problems with SoR, mostly having to do with pricing and management-- and most importantly their attitude about music education. The basic model at SoR, at least for beginners, is to provide kids with enough knowledge about their instrument to cover rock songs and perform them with other kids. Each kid gets a 45-minute private lesson during which, as far as I can tell, they are supposed to work on the songs they're going to cover. Then they also get a weekly 3-hour rehearsal where they practice their songs with other kids. SoR is not in the business of teaching your kids to read music, they do not teach ear training/aural skills, music theory, scales and chord progressions, improvisation, or any of these things that "traditional" music lessons would include. In fact, if you ask, management (Andy) will tell you traditional music lessons are an "outdated approach to music education that contradicts our philosophy." As I see it, it is just as or more outdated to assume that acquiring explicit musical knowledge will somehow crush your authenticity and rock n roll musicality. As a Psychologist (Ph.D.) with specific expertise in child development and music cognition, I can tell you that there is growing behavioral and neuroscientific evidence that "traditional" music lessons benefit children in a whole range of ways--basic hearing, auditory brain function, attention, language, social and cognitive abilities, wellness, self-discipline/cognitive control, and many more. So to tell parents that traditional music education is "outdated" is not only dead wrong, but does a disservice to music and the arts more generally.
Also, SoR is just way too expensive. After tuition and show and mid-season fundraiser fees we were looking at $600/month for our two kids. When you scale it to other comparable kid's activities (jiu jitsu, swimming, dance, and yes, piano lessons), it is easily 3-4x as much, and I'm not convinced it's worth it. I would love to put my kids in a lower key program where they perform in people's back yards--I don't need them to perform at House of Blues. As someone who wants to see more music engagement in the world especially for kids, it bothers me that this program is nearly inaccessible to all but the highest income families. And for my own kids, the resulting lack of diversity really dilutes the social advantages of the program.
Finally, I did not appreciate the sketchy bait-and-switch sales tactics I got with the manager. He guaranteed us a discount for the entire year (3 seasons), but in the middle of the first season of the year he told me there would be no discounts starting in summer. Similarly, at one point he told me there might be the option of lessons-only, but then later when I asked about that, he told me that no, they won't do lessons-only. Right after we got billed $200+ for end-of-season show fees, we get told (surprise!) we have to pay at least $50 to accompany our kids to the school's mandatory mid-season fundraiser. And when I questioned it he had this attitude like how dare we complain about the cost.
On the whole, this is a fun but very expensive program, and in my opinion it's not 3x as valuable as everything else our kids could be doing, including traditional music lessons.
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