Larry Myers with his "School of Rock" students.
Budding musicians in the Big Sandy area have a new resource to learn and grow through the teaching and experience of several local entertainers. The "School of Rock" set out to "give the kids a little bit of music education that is popular music based, not that there's anything wrong with classical music. We just know a little bit about popular music, because we have been playing it forever," explains Chris Meyers who is heading up the School of Rock effort with the help of his father, Larry Meyers.
Chris goes on to explain that, "It's not really individual lessons so much as we're trying to get the kids to be able to play together as a band...simple chord progression." This means working with kids at all levels of experience and talent, not just the ones who have learned to play an instrument or have extensive experience with playing in a group. "We're trying to help them develop anything from a sense of rhythm to a sense of melody. So, it's all about being able to listen and key off of what everybody else is doing."
The goal is to expose kids to all aspects of playing in a band. "We'll switch the kids off... Like especially the younger kids... We kinda start them off doing some drum stuff so they're all familiar with the pieces of the drum kit and things like that. Depending on what song we're playing, one of them might be playing drums, another might be playing keys, another one might be learning a guitar part or a bass part or something like that. We're trying to spread it around and give them all a little bit of experience on everything."
Chris explains the inspiration for the School of Rock: "It kinda started with Rusty Danreuther. He was a really big inspiration for me growing up. He and my dad used to play music together, as well as all the other stuff he did. He was always very supportive of kids trying to learn something, whether it was sports related or music related... he was just really supportive of that stuff. That was the whole idea - do something in memory of him, what he would've done." Even the recording studio space where the kids gather to learn the ropes of playing in a band was the product of a discussion between Larry and Rusty: "Rusty and dad had walked through the Odd Fellows Hall once, before he passed away, and they thought 'We should maybe get ahold of this.' And then my dad and Keith Danreuther bought it together." The old Odd Fellows Hall now boasts a recording studio in the upstairs spaces as well as a "live room" which is well equipped with musical instruments and gear. The live room is the site of the School of Rock meetings.
Kids interested in enrolling in the School of Rock just need to start showing up. "We're trying to do mainly Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 5 to 7. We have a high school group of kids that meet on Tuesdays and 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders on Thursdays. We provide snacks and water for them. If somebody brings in a song and says 'I've always wanted to do this song...' We're mostly doing cover song stuff. But if someone is really interested in learning how to play a song or sing a song, we try to make that happen for them."
In addition, if you're interested in helping out: "If there's any adults that want to be a part of it and help, who feel like they have something to offer, absolutely. Especially with the younger kids, the more adults you have for supervision, the easier it is to corral that. They tend to be a little less focused than the high school students."
For more information contact Chris or Larry Meyers.
