Barpeta: Overview of the top 18 music camp

Great school – staff are kind, friendly, encouraging and engaging.

If you have hyper young children and are doing everything possible to help them self regulate then bring them to music lessons. Bringing my son here is basically therapy. He’s 4 and does so well even though he is hyperactive and speech delayed. Music has been the number one thing that has helped with his speech so I knew music lessons at School of Rock was going to be good for him. He’s so engaged that he actually listens and is patient while learning with Ms. Chloe and Ms. Alexis, a behavior we hardly see. He always looks forward to music lessons and begs to go even when it’s not even a day for music lessons. Everyone there is so knowledgable and patient, they are great with kids. I’m so happy I decided to enroll him because I was really hesitant if he would really even understand how to be patient and learn in this type of setting. Glad I took the chance. Everyone there is very nice and understanding and thorough. They explain what they teach the kids and care about them a lot. Thank you School Of Rock!

Committed teachers, encouraging peers, amazing music community. School of Rock and the Rock 101 program have transformed my son’s music experience. He looks forward to his lessons and practice. School of Rock is what music is all about – developing a love of music.

I really enjoyed my vocal lesson here! The teachers are absolutely amazing, patient, smart, they know what they’re doing! 🙂 The only downfall is that lessons for me personally are out of my budget range but if you are looking for teachers then this is a great place to start!

I can wholeheartedly recommend School of Rock (SOR) to anyone interested in learning to understand music, play an instrument, or learn to sing. I’ll describe my reasons below, but if you are reading this review and just want a quick summary, for me I’d give it a “two-thumbs-up”, five-stars, a very-happy-face – pick a measure and I’ll pick the highest!

Here is my story. When my mom was living with us, she encouraged me to pick up and play an old acoustic guitar that was laying around the house. After more encouragement (or nagging!), I eventually did pick it up. But I found it very difficult to play. So, I bought an electric guitar. It was easier to play, but it did not magically transform me into a guitar wizard, as I had hoped! I eventually got to where I could play most of the open chords and a few scales. After that I began a few years of watching YouTube videos on guitar technique, usually quickly getting frustrated because even what seemed to be simple, was not simple for me. Then came COVID-19. Though terrifying, the pandemic had some unexpected benefits. All of a sudden I had extra time on my hands, so I chose to spend more time on music. I “got serious” about playing guitar and I started singing along with songs that I liked. All of my life I thought that singing was something that either one can do or can’t do, and I thought that I couldn’t. At some point, with the help of voice apps like SingSharp, I realized that I could get very close to hitting pitches correctly and had the beginnings of what I have learned is called relative pitch. Then, just over a year ago, I began working regularly with another beginner musician on guitar and voice. As my friend and I continued down the path of trying to teach ourselves voice and guitar, my wife, unbeknownst to me, signed me up for a trial guitar lesson at SOR. This was in the summer of 2021. I’m eternally grateful to her for that – it has completely changed my musical journey! During the very first lesson, I learned that my command of timing needed work, as did my knowledge of very basic things like common chord voicings. My teacher did not hesitate to point out what I needed to work on, but he didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. The simple drills that he recommended were very effective. Since that first lesson, I decided that voice was an important part of my journey, so I added a weekly voice lesson to my guitar lessons. This led me to Eric Mann, who teaches voice and guitar. I’ve been working with Eric for several months now and the experience has transformed my concept and appreciation for music in general, and voice in particular. For now, I’ve decided to work on voice as my main musical interest. Eric is fluent in voice, guitar, keyboards and music theory. He is never heavy-handed about music theory, rather he makes suggestions, like “you might want to consider using the solfege method to help with your understanding of pitch.”. I’ve learned to pay attention to what Eric suggests! Everything that he has suggested has furthered my understanding of, and my ability to actually do musical things. I now realize that music is a lifelong journey, I started late (I’m retired), but I am so happy that I somehow found my way to SOR. I can confidently say that had I not enrolled, I would have never have figured how to achieve my goals. YouTube, books and apps can be helpful, but I see music as something that is essentially a human-to-human thing, not something that can be done exclusively alone in one’s basement.

School Of Rock is a welcoming and gentle environment for pursuing your musical journey. I can’t recommend it enough.

We started out with just our oldest taking bass lessons. Then one by one the rest of the family (2 adults and 2 kids) joined in the fun with guitar, keys, drums, vocals and various bands. We love it! Staff is very friendly and easy to work with.

They have great instructors who have great attitudes .

My experience is with Siohban Beckett. She inserted herself into a situation at work, based on a rumor from her friend and her own personal prejudice, that started an investigation. When nothing was found, she escalated the rumors, sending messages to her friends on social media, with the full intent of having someone fired. Based on the screenshots of her messages, Siohban Beckett’s own credibility was damaged. She left after one performance night.

Hi guys ! Please save your money and time and do
NOT go to this place . My daughter had an appointment and my mother in law took my daughter showed them the confirmation email with the time and date that they sent . The staff stated that the appointment time was wrong , even though it came from them . I reluctantly reschedule my appointment and they sent an email and again this happens . Just please don’t go here staff is very unprofessional . I would give no stars if I could .

First let me start off by saying, the teachers at Columbia SOR are amazing and my daughter had such an amazing time in vocal classes with Gideon & Zack and Keys classes with Alex and Colin. And we really, really wanted it to work out but the administration at this branch of SOR was absolutely abysmal. The pervasive disorganization, cancelled lessons (sometimes on the same day), constantly shifting schedules, inconsistencies in which teacher we would have from week to week overshadowed whatever benefit my daughter was getting from the highly professional teachers at Columbia SOR. It made us very sad to leave the school because my daughter really made a connection with and loved working with her teachers and we really tried to put up with the mismanagement at the Columbia SOR. But ultimately the mismanagement was too much to bear. If Columbia SOR gets their act together, it could be a great place to learn music. However, at this time, I would not recommend spending your money there, which is a shame because the teachers really are great.

I think the song-based approach is incredibly helpful. I’ve taken lessons on and off for years, and always end up quitting because it’s hard to stay motivated with just drills. Having a song or two to play with is way more fun, and even helps me understand the point of the drills. My instructor really knows his stuff, and is even able to explain the workings of the instrument and how to care for it, not just how to play it.

The way teachers and students communicate is awesome. My son developed his own taste of music. Was always enthusiastic about the school.

My son loves his weekly drum lesson and band practice. It’s been a great way for him to engage with other kids his age that don’t attend the same school but have a shared interest. School of Rock is so much fun and has really built up his confidence and given him an outlet for his stress and anxiety.

Great to meet people and make friends. I understand you cover bands but still no creativity. It’s a school of learning how to play with other people but doesn’t encourage creativity. Just go there, assemble your own band and get out and change the world…

Extremely disappointed by the owner’s careless responses from start to end. Almost traumatizing experience for my kid.

As you can tell from the previous negative reviews the owner Tracey Fondren is extremely unprofessional and would rather stress out the overworked understaffed team at the Issaquah location. I submitted a negative review (internal to their system) of the camp my kids attended and the owner reached out. I took the time to write what their experience was expecting some accountability on her end. Nope, she made the young camp coordinator call me and apologize. Disgusting!! My review was basically that she had set the team up for failure. There was basically one person to work with 13 kids which is impossible when they are learning 6 different songs at 13 different levels of experience and age. My letter to Tracy is below. She herself never responded, not even to thank me for the time in providing my feedback. All this to say – don’t waste your money. They put your kids in front of a Chromebook in an isolated room and call this camp.

Hi Tracy,
Thank you for your email. I appreciate your follow-up to my negative rating. I didn’t really have time to go into all the concerns I had with the camp and I wasn’t that invested seeing as it was unlikely we would ever return (sorry that’s a bit harsh but true).

My boys didn’t enjoy the camp at all. They are pretty easygoing and kinda went with the flow but would come home every afternoon not wanting to return. Here is the list of things they didn’t like.

1) Being handed a Chromebook and sent to a room by themselves with little to no help. For me, had I known your primary form of having the kids learn is with a device I would’ve never signed them up in the first place. 2) There wasn’t enough personal instruction (their words). It seems Delaney was the only one working with all the kids. Again, had I known there were less than 3 people working with all the kids it would’ve been a no-go for me – especially knowing what you charge for this camp. 3) Because of the way the camp is designed (where you don’t limit the amount of instruments ) this camp had 6 drummers for 6 songs. My son was only on one song (five days working on one song -this was boring for him) he tried another song to learn but still was bored. A lot of waiting around while the other kids were rehearsing. My younger son was the same – bored. His parts were so easy for him that he was bored out of his mind and really didn’t want to go back Thurs /Friday. The best part of the camp for them was lunch. So that has to tell you something. For me, I was expecting them to come home with sheet music (which my husband ended up doing for them) and be taught something -anything. Also, you could tell that the kids weren’t taught how to perform together (one of the main reasons for having them do a camp like this) which isn’t surprising if your primary form of instruction is YouTube. My kids have been playing music since they were 4,5 and do not have access to devices at home. I would’ve never sent my kids to what I feel is a very expensive camp only for them to be given a device and sent to a room and be isolated from the other kids and only checked in on every once and a while. This for me is in no way a “camp” and the little blurb you have to advertise this camp doesn’t reflect the real thing. I can tell you as I type this it just makes me angrier and angrier. My boys play classical piano and is starting drums (his instrument for middle school) and I was so excited for them to experience music outside of Chopin. This is not at all what I had in mind and I really believe that they were robbed by this experience. Both boys feel that they didn’t learn anything that they could’ve just taught themselves at home. If you are interested in reimbursing us for this experience I would greatly appreciate it. I didn’t need a daycare for my kids as they would’ve had a lot to do at home – so this really was meant for them to immerse themselves in music – which sadly was a very negative experience for them.

Being a part of School of Rock.of Issaquah for 3 years has been a miserable experience. I wish I had listened to the warning signs that these owners were petty, unprofessional, and unethical. I wish I hadn’t wasted roughly $15,000 of my family’s money, which doesn’t even include the 6 tickets everyone is forced to buy for every show. You soon come to realize that special programs like House Band and Allstars are just “carrots” that they can hang over you in order to convince you need to pay for more lessons, more camps, and more speciality mini classes that are extremely expensive. There were a few last straws for us. A wonderful instructor was bullied out by the owners when he refused to put the owner’s daughter in the more advanced group. Then, they decided to become 2/3 of the judges for the auditions to place their own daughter over more talented students. We refused to put our child into this unethical situation, and because we ever brought it up, we were “punished”. Also, in the last show my child was in, our child was subjected to really negative behavior from older kids that were 3-4 years older because most kids were sitting around unsupervised for hours while instructors were working with small groups. In talking to others, this type of bullying was happening to others.
One of child’s former friends at the school bragged about getting away with sexual activity because no one was watching them during the 3 hour practice time. With so many other great music programs like this in Issaquah and in the area, you don’t need to go to one that is run by evil people.

Was really good instructor was patient and no pressure at all will go back.

Just started and i already love it!

This place is great! My daughter took an intro lesson to see what she thought. Being a teen she was nervous at first and hesitant to go. Came out of the building happy and excited. She loves her instructor and what’s she is learning. She would go every day if possible. They are professional, warm, fun, and friendly. My child loves this place!
They have a cool program where you can do lessons on your instrument or voice. And then, if you choose to you can join a band also which meets there weekly. You get to decide what level you sign up for. It’s been a huge hit with my kiddo! Wish I had signed my older child up years ago.
They offer a really great program and we are so happy a friend turned us on to it!
No one asked for this review- we are just that happy about it.

So I took my son for a trial run with a group of kids at this school last week on a Monday at the Madison Rd location, which he was so excited about, so he went in with (i forget her name..jenny?) and he was just excited about all the instruments, it was only him and another boy. I guess my son was too much for her because she said that he was not really focused on just one instrument and kind of all over the place and recommend Music Therapy because she is a music therapist and that an hour was too much for him, ( I was kind of shock and a little hurt that I didn’t even ask her any other questions, but said ok and left) but she didn’t recommend her services for a personal session or anything, so my husband called the next day and asked about the lady (the music therapist) that did the trial run with Aaron if she can call him back and recommend her services or if she has a referral. its been a little over a week and she has not returned his call. I also did tell them in the beginning he has a vision impairment) I just wish someone would of reached out and recommended something because my son loves music and he is not a bad kid.

My girls were skeptical going in but they really enjoyed learning the piano and singing.

My daughter absolutely loves all the programs that are offered by School of Rock. Her instructor for private lessons, Ed, is so talented and works so well with her. All of the instructors that she has had for the group sessions and summer programs have been phenomenal as well. She gets so excited to go to “class”. Her love for music has continued to flourish. The company’s ability to adjust to the COVID shutdown and offer virtual private, group, and master classes has concreted my belief in this institution. Worth every penny!

The instructors teach with passion and clarity! I love the fact that the students have an opportunity to perform. Keep up the good work.

Hayley the Keys instructor was great. We did our free trial with her and my 9 year old daughter had a great experience. So we signed up for the program.
At 9 she was placed in Rock 101. The kids were mostly younger than her, and it usually felt like glorified babysitting vs becoming a better musician.

Huge communication disconnect re:homework/expectations between the private lesson, Rock 101 and the School of Rock app causing tears that could be avoided and much frustration for parents!

We also tried one of the summer camps, signed up both kids. The fees included “Recording: campers will record their songs with camp directors so that they can share with family and friends!”.
This was not so! I emailed to follow up to receive this keepsake of their song writing, and the school did not have a file to share.

A fabulous place for my daughter to perform. The instructors love what they do and care about each student. My daughter has learned much as a vocalist and being in a band. Such a positive experience — what she has learned and experienced at school of rock will be of use through out her life.

This school of rock is a vital part of the community. It allows for kids to study music after school and to live their dream. Many kids that feel they are not special in main school activities can come together with their SOR family with kids that appreciate music. Our schools have reduced focus on music and arts and SOR fills that important role for these kids. My grandson had a great time at the summer camp this year! Your important role models for these kids and I appreciate what you do for them.

Mario takes the time to listen & to encourage my son to perform! He’s fun, patient, & very relatable Our son loves the 1-1 learning sessions & enjoys the band jam sessions.

I like it but they don’t let you watch the class…and it concerns me as a grandmother of a 5 year old ..they say it’s a security issue but can’t explain why we can view on tge TV in the waiting room

My son has been coming to School of Rock (SOR) since May 2021, for 2 yrs. He has had great instructors & directors, & also not so great make-up instructor (that made him cry). The 1st year, he advanced & grew, after that, he started to plateau due to repetition & dullness of the program. His instructor has been great & tried his best to squeeze songs that my kid actually wants to learn, but with band songs that he has to learn it is difficult to learn songs that he is interested in. Aside from this, my issue is with their policies. You have to give them a 24-hour notice if your kid gets sick, or they can’t give you a make-up lesson. However, the school has canceled lessons with a one hour notice. Unfortunately, the school does not open until 2 pm & you’re unable to notify them sooner if your kid wakes up sick that day.
* For reference, we paid $355 a month for a once a week lesson & band. Their policy includes a 24-hour notice if your kid gets sick & a 30-day notice if you want to cancel your membership.
*My kid will miss his instructor the most, but we will look elsewhere for better growth & a more understanding sick policy.

***to the owner***
I did text at 9 am, letting SOR know of my kid being sick. When I called at 4 pm to confirm they had canceled, they told me it had not been canceled yet. I’ve never had an issue in the 2 yrs. Also, it is not just the policies. To be honest, kids want newer fun songs. They keep playing 1980s songs that they’re just not into. Also, in the 2 years, a few kids have enrolled SOR do to our referral, but was bummed that we couldn’t even get one make-up day for being sick. Feel free to call me if you want to discuss this further. Once again, the instructors & directors have always been awesome.

Great camaraderie with fellow band mates in adult band and learning how to practice to perform is a lot of fun. The rewards of lots of practice come through at the end of season shows.

The class is only 30 minutes long, and the kids are on time but they can’t get to class right away and they always wait outside, but the class is over on time！

The problem isn’t that 30 minutes of study isn’t enough, it’s that the class should be 30 minutes long

people were cool and it was a good premise of the place, but as a guitar player i was not taught anything valuable and im not sure if it was my instructor or not but it was honestly just a waste of both time and money.

Loved you guys at Woofstock

I LOVE SCHOOL OF ROCK! I have been a student here for around two years and i absolutely love it. If you’re looking for a way to introduce your child to music this is the way, such friendly and kind staff 🙂

My 13 year old son has been with SOR for almost a year now. Hands down the best decision we ever made. This is the one thing that he looks forward to every week. The live performace experience has been amazing! I highly recommend!

They have moved within the City of Carmel #fullsunfeverincarmelindiana

We love the School of Rock. They have given our 3 boys a passion. They make kids really care about learning music, plus it’s fun! This is not a place where the kids dread lessons. Our boys will come home from school playing, play a concert and are still playing at nearly 10 PM. It’s the teachers there. They are amazing and every bit as passionate about what they do. Worth every penny. Our kids have gained confidence, friends, a talent that had given them more friends (at their age it is not easy to ask kids to play but it’s so much easier to ask a group of musically able kids to come jam for a bit), more things to join in school- band, choir etc. Kids who learn music do better academically and have higher test scores (proven over and over) and it keeps them busy with a hobby, teaches them about practicing, not letting your band members (teammates) down. Our kids are more accepting. They now know kids express themselves differently, they aren’t dangerous or bad just because they may have colored their hair, etc. We dropped regular piano, drums. It was BORING. They wanted to ROCK! Play songs they were interested in. So we switched and this works! We have been going to SOR for 2 years. Hands down you will not be disappointed. Amazing.

School of Rock has been a part of our lives for over 5 years. I can say it’s truly a worldly experience. My daughter has been able to travel around the world playing at some of the largest events in the world. It’s worth the price in gold. It took my young tween daughter and turned her from a shy, insecure singer, into a confident young lady. I wouldn’t give up School of Rock for anything.

I give this a 3 because they are great with the kids, but struggle with the adults. The teachers their are awesome but the management of the adults leaves something to be desired at times. Maybe not so with the kids and parents but with adults, it has been frustrating.

When I started there they let other members go to other bands and made us wait for our new members. We waited for other members and as we grew, they encouraged us to form a band, helped us make a page, and then agreed in a meeting with the band they would move us forward and after one last semester we would move on. Not all members would go on, but some of us. 2 days later, with no discussion, we received an email telling us we are not allowed to be a band, that they will support us, but if we want to stay with SOR we had to do it their way (it was polite but read like they were fine if we no longer were there.) It was shocking as it was 180 degrees from what we all agreed to. I honestly had no issues if we needed to pivot, but it was handled poorly.

Over my time there I received a few emails from the manager stating things in a manner that made many of us feel like we were not as important as other paying customers. One in particular even alluded to us staying away from a group practicing for the All Stars as we were “strangers.” It was insulting. Many of us are parents and some grandparents…

Additionally, we had a show planned and 45 minutes before the first band went on stage they “discovered” we were not playing there as we were double booked. Turns out they never followed up in advance nor checked the venue’s website (which did not have us listed), so we had to tell all the people we invited to the show (over 50 for our band alone) the show was somewhere else. (30 minutes away.) It turned out to be someone’s yard. I appreciate them scrambling, but it was a big mistake. We all made the best of it and had a great show. It was nice, but many of the people we invited did not show as they just could not devote the time.

At the end of the day, I’d say as an adult who wants to gig, stay away. They are used to dealing with children and tend to treat their adult customers the same way. I honestly would encourage them to rethink the adult program and it’s existence as they vacillate a lot and and have issues honoring their commitments. It’s very confusing for the customer. Many of us have left as a result. Hope it gets better.

Dropped by to sign up for a class but they had closed an hour before the posted time and no sign sayingthey were closing early. Was very disappointed

I do NOT recommend sending your kids here. The instructors here are all talk and do not have real world knowledge of their instruments. If you want to LOOK like a musician without any substance to back it up, go to school of rock. If you want talented instructors who gig around Indianapolis with world class experience, look somewhere else.

School of Rock Arlington Hights is just awesome! They have great instructors who make the lessons fun while teaching kids their craft. Everyone at SOR Arlington Heights is very professional, helpful and there is a real, fun Family atmosphere. Best decision we made was to sign up our kids there! Rock On!

We have had our son in the Arlington Heights School of Rock for a couple years and it is amazing how quickly his guitar skills have progressed! He takes lessons and also participates in the shows. The show preparation is rigorous but it has really accelerated his skills – it is amazing how the prospect of performing for a live audience compels you to practice! You also don’t want to let your bandmates down. In addition to the musical training, the kids are forced to work together for the performances and get along with each other. I think this side benefit has been almost as important as the musical training. It’s a great program, I highly recommend it. Jim, the owner, is also a great guy!

My daughter enjoys class and looks forward to attending. People seem great, and she is learning quite a bit. She already knows more about the fundamentals of music than her parents.

listened at the show at the library, very good.

They do an excellent job trying to ensure the student experience is a positive and rich one. My daughter loves her instructor.

My son has enjoyed both the private electric guitar lessons and the Rock 101 classes. The teachers are kind, competent and yet ensure the kids behave respectfully towards their instrument and their peers.

Awesome!

The instructors my daughter has worked with have been infinitely patient and kind. They’re always full of encouragement while still reinforcing important character traits like commitment and teamwork. I have seen a big boost in her self-confidence and she’s proud of herself for overcoming her stage fright. As a parent, I like the way SOR communicates her progress with me. It really helps that they send out recaps after class and let me know what to help her focus on for the week. Now that she’s moved into the performance program we’re all really excited to see her with the band on stage at one of the amazing venues! It’s such a cool goal to work towards and that really inspires the kids!

Great staff great location great music

Kelly who “runs” the school is absolutely awful. She is unprofessional, combative, lacks follow-up skills, lacks customer service skills, and is incredibly rude and unable to resolve conflict. I would never send my child to a place that is run by a person like Kelly. That said, I pulled my child out of the summer camp.