RBL / Schoolhouse Program Description / Expectations / Basic Info

RBL / Schoolhouse Program Description
Rock Band Land (RBL) will provide supplemental music / creative arts education to the students ("rockers") of Schoolhouse (SH) in the form of RBL's tried-and-true, unorthodox methods of encouraging creative expression and collaboration through rock music, storytelling, and comedy. SH rockers will form three distinct bands with each band meeting once weekly, for 90 minutes, on either Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday. RBL will introduce each band to two classic RBL songs per band (6 total) and teach them on the instrument of the rockers' choice: drums, guitar, bass, keyboards, voice. Once selected each rocker will stay on the instrument of their choice for the duration of the program.

Though the primary focus will be on instrument instruction, RBL will also provide a rich variety of non-instrument based activities that are beneficial to the band / creative collaboration process, including, but not limited to, lyric lessons, choir arrangements, story writing, songwriting, games, poetry exercises, karaoke, brainstorms, recording, art projects, public speaking, improv comedy, etc...

No experience is necessary to participate and RBL will meet each rocker where they are at, providing both support and challenges to best encourage them on their paths towards becoming better artists, bandmates, and people.

Where is RBL?
Rock Band Land resides within a secret castle in the Mission (400-E Treat Ave).

Who Will Be Teaching the SH Rockers?
Your rockers are in luck. For these bands, all of our core RBL staff will be on hand and at your rockers’s service. We have all played and are playing in professional bands. Our staff have toured on small and massive scales (nationally and internationally), we have recorded in pro studios, and have worked in pretty much every aspect of being in bands. On top of that, our folks are amazing teachers who bring fun, joy, and excitement to each day, and take great pride in inspiring young artists on their creative paths.

RBL Contact Info
RBL’s founder and director, Brian Gorman, is at your service to answer any questions or address an issues with this program.
If your rocker is with us irl and you need to contact us (early pickups, emergencies, etc…), feel free to text @ 415-606-8771. Otherwise email is the preferred method of contact: brian@rockbandland.org.

Basic RBL Rules & Expectations
1. Have Fun.
2. Be cool.
3. No Potty Words.
Poop is hilarious, but once we start talking about crap, the art we make tends to resemble it. For this age group, “No Potty Words” really means watch your language. Otherwise RBL is a place of creative expression and all humans are encouraged to speak freely and with respect for others.

We expect the rockers to show up with a positive attitude, a sense of humor, a willingness to collaborate, and to show respect for the RBL staff. If they arrive each week with those four things, regardless of their current musical ability, we’ll get them gelling as bands in no time.

Teaching Methods
At RBL the focus is always on creative expression and collaboration. This is about the band experience, about sharing, compromise, and working through ideas to make something great together. Though our staff are fully capable of teaching music theory - and we will pepper our lessons with theory, and give more to those who are hungry for it - the focus will be on keeping the lessons and band experience fun. Once a sense of fun is established, the real learning can occur. It’s called “playing” music for a reason.

You may have invested in years of classical / traditional lessons for your rocker and they may have a high level of ability in that context. That’s awesome, thank you for investing in their arts education. AND those rockers, if they haven’t also embraced the qualities of flexibility, listening, and fun (which are not taught in classical music), tend to struggle the most in a band context. They may know their modes and scales and have the circle of fifths memorized, but they may not yet know how to listen and how to play with others. RBL will help them with that.

If your rocker has never played an instrument before, great! They are a wonderful blank slate that we will chalk up with skills that can be applied to their lives in a myriad of ways. I hope we can turn your rocker on to the joys of playing music and that this is the start of a greater creative life for them.