By Susan Payne
School of Rock West Los Angeles has enriched the lives of students through performance-based music education for the last 14 years. For another consecutive year, School of Rock has won the Best of Santa Monica — Best Children’s Program/Service.
First opening in November of 2010, Chris Czaja and Elizabeth Weiner purchased the School of Rock West LA in 2012. Since then, they have grown their franchise to a total of six locations in Los Angeles. The other four other School of Rock locations have different owners, but the entire franchise uses the same method of performance-based teaching brought on by the original founder of School of Rock in 1999, longtime music teacher Paul Green.
In Philadelphia, Green started giving traditional individual music lessons and invited a group of students to “jam” with his own band in 1998. As time progressed, he saw the students who were practicing as a group advanced more quickly than the students who received solo instruction. From there, he supplemented his instruction with group practice with a goal to put on a live performance. One year later, Green’s most advanced students played their first public concert at an art gallery, and School of Rock, formerly the Paul Green School of Rock, was created.
“Paul Green’s revolutionary idea worked and now we are creating musicians around the globe. The School of Rock’s community of teachers and educators has grown tremendously in that amount of time,” said School of Rock West LA general manager Justin Salmons. “We have so many amazing students that have gone on to do amazing things, whether they pursue music or not.”
Salmons has been a part of the School of Rock West LA community for almost 14 years. Salmons has seen at least 11 students achieve School of Rock’s top honor of becoming a School of Rock All Star — where the best and brightest advanced students audition to be selected for regional band tours. Less than one percent of School of Rock students achieve this feat.
“This is an amazing achievement in the School of Rock world and a testament to our standard of quality and excellence at West LA. We have an amazing network of former students, who I’ve seen on Saturday Night Live or working with artists like King Princess. When the students graduate, they are ready to take on the world.” Salmons said.
School of Rock’s teaching method builds musical proficiency by integrating thrilling stage performance and song-based learning from as young as three years old, all the way through high school, and offers adult programs.
To learn more about the School of Rock, visit https://www.schoolofrock.com/locations/westla
