Anyone who has seen Jack Black teaching fourth graders his windmill picking technique in “The School of Rock” knows there’s something inspiring about a group of kids getting excited about learning rock ’n’ roll music. Although Jack took the idea a bit too far (recall his miserable attempt at crowd-surfing), the film played a significant role in motivating instructors at RockRight Academy to put their ideas into a concrete reality. “(The instructors) had been talking about some way to help our students take their music to the next level and keep them interested in playing,” said Ralph Napolitano, owner of Ralph’s House of Tone in Dover and self-proclaimed Dean of Rock at the Academy. “We were all sort of in awe of ‘The School of Rock’ movie, which I can’t say wasn’t a part of the inspiration. We finally got together and put some ideas out there and it just kind of happened.” After just one year, the Academy has swelled into a major success. Every week of classes is filled up, and a student showcase at the Dover Brick House two weeks ago packed the venue to full audience capacity.

Classes at RockRight Academy, which began early last year, are run by local guitarists Seamus Burke, Gary Leighton, and the Dean of Rock himself. Topics cover a wide range of skills needed to succeed in a rock band, from “Useful Rock Theory” to “Axe Chops” to “Rock Band 101.” There’s even a four-week class for younger aspiring guitarists called “Little Rockers,” with rental instruments available for those not yet ready to invest in an axe of their own. “This is information that we can share with kids that can help them avoid some of the mistakes that you can make early on,” said Napolitano. “We have theory classes that mostly focus on guitar, and there’s a rock solo series too, but Rock Band 101 is the real big thing that we do.”
Rock Band 101 is essentially a weeklong group lesson in which students form bands, learn songs, prepare and promote a performance and, finally, play their songs live at the Brick House. Courses run Tuesday through Friday for four hours a day and are open to anyone middle school-age and older with a desire to shred, melt faces or perform other rock-related feats of greatness.

“Last year, the kids were only from our private lessons at Ralph’s, but this year was open to everyone,” Napolitano said. “We group the students by their styles, musical tastes and experience. Half the course is classroom based, learning basically how to be in a band, play together, promote themselves—stuff like that. We record them, too, so they all leave with a CD of their song.”

The instructors do a lot of mixing and matching to ensure that band members are placed in groups with similar skill levels and meet all the instrumental requirements of a rock band. “We had a lot of guitarists, but also bassists, keyboardists and drummers, too,” said Napolitano. “If there was a missing piece to the band, we had one of the instructors fill in, but most of the time we had all the pieces.”

The theory portions of the class are interspersed throughout the week, between practices and performance instruction. They are aimed at imparting as much musical knowledge as possible while still holding each rocker’s attention. “Everything is done from a traditional classic theory basis, but we look at it from a rock perspective,” said Burke. “It’s another way of presenting these ideas to kids that, if it’s done traditionally, might not hold their interest as much. We just try to make everything as cool as possible.”

An experienced performer might be skeptical about the quality of music that these groups produce after a mere four days together as a band. But, with instructors facilitating each session, they’ve managed to pull together solid rock covers for almost every performance.

“The kids played for a packed house at the showcase concert at the Brick House, and some of these kids are only 12 years old,” Napolitano said. “I’m 51, and I remember my first gig. This is an amazing first experience for these kids.”

Local guitarist Josh Schanck, who handled admission at the Brick House show, was impressed by both the ample attendance and the enthusiasm of the bands. “The kids were amazing. They played some ACDC, a Green Day cover and something by the Clash, too,” he said. “The whole idea is really cool, too, because it’s getting these kids hooked on music who otherwise would have been swept under the carpet just because they didn’t want to play trumpet or something.” One band, called Mothra, decided to stay together even after the session ended at the showcase event. The members have been practicing on their own and recently created a MySpace page to begin booking more shows. “We’re doing a couple cookouts coming up and putting ourselves out there, trying to book stuff,” said 15-year-old Mothra vocalist Jesse Reynolds. “But that show was awesome. We played ‘Paranoid’ by Black Sabbath and ‘Hey Joe’ by Jimi Hendrix. We had a really good crowd. The place was filled to capacity and the venue was awesome. We met a lot of cool people, too. It was just a great experience.”

The RockRight Academy is finishing up its final week of the summer, but plans are in the works to get classes going during the school year, as well. And, of course, there’s still the final showcase concert at the Brick House, set tentatively for Monday, Sept. 10. The $10 show will feature four bands from Rock Band 101, each playing one or two songs. To confirm the concert date or get more information on the Academy, check out www.rockrightacademy.