School of Rock Lynnwood House Band

BanD sPonsor

The Skagit County Fair is thrilled to welcome the School of Rock Lynnwood House Band along with the Seattle House Band for their fi rst performance at our Fair! School of Rock Lynnwood House Band is a group of talented young musicians that perform regularly all over the Pacifi c Northwest area and beyond. These students are not only among the most profi cient musicians at the school, more importantly they’re leaders and mentors to their peers and ambassadors for the School of Rock. Before Covid, the band had the opportunity to perform with Hall of Fame artists at notable events and festivals such as Summerfest, Bumbershoot, Live on KEXP, and Edmonds Performing Arts. This is a fi rst-rate, family friendly cover band sure to entertain and impress any audience! There are currently eight kids in the Lynnwood House Band, ranging between 14 and 18 years of age. Said School of Rock Lynnwood co-owner, Jon, “While we were able to do Zoom lessons and come up with an elaborate plan to do socially-distant in-person rehearsals and two live-streamed shows during Covid, this is the fi rst time that our House Band has taken the stage in over a year and half. We are excited to perform for the fi rst time at the Skagit County Fair! For some of the kids, this is their fi rst time performing at a fair.”

scHool of rock PrograMs

School of Rock Lynnwood offers a wide variety of lessons, music camps and workshops that help students learn the musical skills they need to learn how to play in a band or to write songs. The School of Rock Lynnwood House Band music program gives students under 18 the opportunity to join a gigging band made up of fellow musicians from their school. These students perform additional live shows throughout the year.

School of Rock is open to everyone, with programs suited to kids six years of age all the way up through senior citizens. At six years old, kids attend the Rookies Program where they are introduced to all rock instruments. The next level is Rock 101 for 8–13-yearolds. This is where students get their fi rst experience of what it’s like to be in a band. Said Jon, “We teach them the School of Rock Method of “being in a band.” We start with easily recognizable rock songs that we know are really good then teach the theory that’s in the songs. We use contextual learning. For example, if we want to teach blues

scales, we find a great AC/DC, Rolling Stones, or even a Metallica song that uses them.”

From Rock 101, students move up to the Performance Program for 8–18-yearolds. This is where they learn how to perform on stage as a rock band. All students in the Performance Program have the opportunity to audition for a spot in School of Rock Lynnwood’s House Band. Once selected, House Band members become leaders in their School of Rock community and perform live shows at Washington rock venues throughout the year. Said Jon, “It’s fun to pair up eight-year-olds with 18-yearolds on stage. The older kids often act as mentors but what is really fun is when you see the younger kid outworking the older one. If you don’t tell them what they can’t do, they’re going to figure out what they can. If you encourage them, they just take off.”

History of scHool of rock

The first school was opened in Philadelphia in 1998 by Paul Green, who had been looking for his next career move before landing on the concept of the after-school rock band performance program. Incidentally, the movie “School of Rock” was based on that school with Jack Black loosely portraying the founder. After the success of the original school, Paul launched more schools on the East Coast before franchising it out. Today, there are over 275 schools with 38,000 students around the world.

Initially, four local School of Rock schools were established in the Seattle area. The first was the Seattle School of Rock (now in Greenwood) in 2008, then Bellevue, Issaquah and West Seattle locations were opened. The School of Rock Lynnwood was founded in 2017 by Jon and Gayle Scherrer. Jon’s former career was in high-tech but he became involved with Seattle youth bands after identifying the difficulty that performers under the age of 21 had in finding music venues to play at in Seattle. He started a non-profit called Seattle Teen Music to help find venues and opportunities for youth singers and bands, which is still operating today. Jon also helps run the Seattle Peace Concerts (founded in 1981), which brings free summer music concerts to the Seattle Parks. His wife of over 30 years, Gayle, was a preschool teacher in the Edmonds School District before coming over and joining the school with the benefit of her longstanding history of education in the area. Today, they work at the school as co-owners.

A major part of their inspiration to open a School of Rock franchise was based on their personal experiences with School of Rock. The couple first experienced the benefits of the School of Rock concept after their kids, Kyle and Megan, who were 11 and 13 at the time, joined the Seattle School of Rock in 2009. Their kids remained involved in the Seattle school for six years. Said Jon, “We always appreciated the impact that School of Rock had on our kids – both for music and just life skills – such as respecting the process of being in a band, respect for bandmates and the equipment. There is a community behind School of Rock – it’s about more than the music lesson; it’s about finding your spot in the community of music. It’s inclusive for everyone’s skills and talents. Some will become professional musicians; some will go on to be in the music industry and others just want to be part of the community. It’s like the Boys and Girls Club for music.”

Jon elaborated, “It became our family thing. The school really embraces a family concept. The kids come in and learn rock music but are also bringing it home. It became part of our dinner conversations and we were enjoying their performances. Our kids formed lifelong friendships. Now that our kids are in their mid-to-late-20s we have been able to see the lifelong impact that School of Rock has had. Kyle has gone on to be a professional musician in L.A. He used School of Rock as an opportunity to learn to play guitar before attending Mountlake Terrace High School for Jazz. He studied music at USC on a scholarship, earning a bachelor’s and graduate degree in music. Megan plays bass and guitar to this day; she actively participates in open mics and music projects. While her career is not in music, Megan has expressed that performing on stage gave her the planning skills and confidence to “pretty much tackle anything.”

Visit http://lynnwood.schoolofrock. com to learn more. Follow the school on Instagram at @SORLYNNWOOD.