Feature Photo By: Andrea Reyna – Sophomores Ahlyna Green, left, and Jessie Robertson-George, right, practice a song together. Students in the class are encouraged to practice instruments on their own, and together when possible.
Rangeview has always been said to embrace talents of all sorts, and in an attempt to allow students to gain a different type of musical experience, the musical class School of Rock was created.
School of Rock is a new class this year at Rangeview. School of Rock became a reality after the idea had been proposed by the students when they were unable to further their musical education after only a year of either guitar or piano.
As a result, the class is a mix of students ranging from sophomore to senior, all of varying talents. Guitarists, pianists, vocalists and drummers are only some of the musical talents that can be found in this class. The class is based on learning and composing all types of music, not solely rock, as one might imagine based on the name.
Mr. Gregory, who has taught music at Rangeview for 16 years, is teaching School of Rock.
Gregory commented that, “By Rangeview offering [School of Rock], we’re drawing people into the music program that normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to be in the music program.”
Students will be more successful in this class if they have prior musical knowledge. One of the biggest obstacles will be the demand of students, as many students showed interest this year but were unable to get into the class because it was too full, according to Gregory.
Gregory plans to allow students to create ensembles, which are groups of six to seven students who get together and decide which genre of music they would like to play. Their choices are limited only by their own creativity; they range from heavy metal to jazz to banda. The students will also be given the opportunity to compose their own music.
Students drawn to the class are seeking to earn more musical experience. This class is believed to have great potential, and sophomore Anessiah Cruz says, “[School of Rock] is more suiting for what I’m trying to do.”
Cruz is one of the guitarists in School of Rock. She is very excited to meet new people, and looks forward to being in, “an environment of people that will also help you [learn]”.
As stated previously, not only does School of Rock include guitarists and pianists, the class also has vocalists. One of the vocalists, senior Nicholas Kreutzer, never doubted that he wanted to join the class.
He first learned about the new class last year a little bit before intersession. Kreutzer commented, “There are days when people are jamming out with each other and doing their own thing,” and that it gives room for hands on experience that he wouldn’t be able to get in other classes.
School of Rock is currently sponsored by Little Kids Rock, which is a non-profit organization that provides the resources for the education of modern music. Rangeview is one of the first Aurora Public Schools to work with Little Kids Rock; Hinkley High School is the only other. The class will be following Little Kids Rock philosophy: getting more teenagers active in music by allowing them to play the modern music they say they enjoy.
Because School of Rock is all about allowing creativity in students to flow, they would like for others to see this creativity on display. Future concerts within the school, (possibly even during lunch) can be expected, along with concerts around the Aurora community.
