Sonari – Top 15 places for music camp15 recommended music camp in Sonari

This place is our home away from home! It’s more than a music school – it’s a family. Such an incredible environment for youth where they not only learn an instrument through private instruction, but then are given the opportunity to USE that gift by being in a band! What a joy to be a part of this program. Hands down the best thing we did for our kids.

I can’t say enough about SOR CLT!!! I love how the kids are made to feel at ease the very first time they walk through the doors…and every time after that. The vibe at SOR is amazing!!! Kids learning how to rock and roll from some really talented teachers in a very chill environment. My daughter has a true gift in her singing but has always had a bit of stage fright….with the love and encouragement of the teachers here she has totally overcome that…and with 2 SOR shows under her belt she’s ready to conquer the music world!!

Just love that the kids are free to be whoever they want to be. Love that they’re learning music and staying interested in it because they’re actually doing something with it, not just learning for Mom and Pop to listen to them at home.

Booked/scheduled intro lessons for both of my daughters and both were cancelled and rescheduled (for dates and times that accommodated themselves not my daughters) so they could accommodate existing clients. I will take my business elsewhere…

Very friendly instructors and polite managing staff

Chad & his team of musical instructors are great with the kids. My son (who is autistic) has really come out of his shell & loves performing. They care about their students & they all have a really great time! Making up missed lessons is easy & flexible. Would highly recommend.

My wife and I are part of the adult program, it’s a great way to pick up a new instrument or revisit one you haven’t played in years. Having weekly lessons and rehearsals makes it more fun and gets you actually playing with other people way sooner than you normally would.

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.

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.

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.

Our daughter is 11 and started at School of Rock when she was 8, playing the acoustic guitar. She’s since added vocal lessons and the electric guitar too. It’s been amazing to see her progress and growth as an artist. The instructors are so professional, supportive and amazing teachers.

Our son has been going to this School of Rock location for about a year now. A couple of months ago I checked-in with him to make sure he wanted to keep doing it, or would he prefer to just take private vocal lessons. He emphatically said “no way!” to private lessons and said he loved playing with the band. At SoR he does get weekly one-on-one lessons anyway (which he loves), in addition to the weekly band practice. In this last year our son has not just gained a lot of singing and performance skill, he has far more confidence and command and cool. It’s such a fit. The staff are awesome and it’s just an all-around fun place to be.

Highly recommended. Cheers.

SOR Orangeburg is the best! I enrolled my children in SOR with the hope they would fulfill their musical fantasies. I can say wholeheartedly my daughter and son have excelled tremendously. SOR’s program is to get the kids to perform live on stage without fear. My kids started out with Rock 101 in tandem with the Performance Program and they love it. Each week, my daughter participates in private singing lessons with a vocal teacher followed by band rehearsal. After a few months she was asked to join the House Band where she travels around “gigging” with her classmates. She is breathing correctly, and her voice grows stronger and clearer with each lesson and performance. My son’s dream was to play the bass and his training at SOR gives him the skills he needs to become the backbone of a band. His training has helped him so much and he is now jamming to the likes of Red-Hot Chili Peppers and Rush. All of the teachers (vocal, bass ) and staff are amazing to work with and they make us all feel like we are family. Go check out SOR Orangeburg, you won’t be sorry!!!

Overall an outstanding show. The only suggestion I have for next time is to have a set-list for parents, that includes which kids are playing which songs, so we know when our kids will be on stage. That way we can make room for other parents when our kids are not performing. Otherwise a really great afternoon! Thank you.

I like how the instructors connect with the students. I also like how the students are encouraged to try different things and putting them out of their comfort zone.

My 14 yr old is in her 4th year with SoR Newtown. The teachers and staff are like family and watching the kids make lifelong connections with other students is fantastic. The range of genre experiences, shows and the house band offer so many opportunities to expand knowledge and truly be not just a solo performer, but learn the dynamics of group performance. My daughter is a singer and her skills grow each year. All the teachers are also actively performing so there’s a lot life experience in their lessons. I wish we had SoR when I was young!

My son loves his classes and teachers , learning a lot in the rookies class playing all the instruments as he figures his path

Our son has been at Newtown SOR for six years now and we couldn’t be happier. The talented staff obviously share a passion for music which translates to the students development. They continue to provide opportunities for our son to play live and grow as a musician. We highly recommend this school!!

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

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.

Just started and i already love 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.

Mia loves it, thanks to School of Rock!

My 8.5 year old has been rocking out for almost two years now and recently started the Rock 101 program guving his first mid season performance this past weekend. It was so cool. Tabi is the best and my son adores her.

My daughter switched from regular private 1on1 guitar lessons to SoR about 8 months ago, and absolutely loves it here! She first did an AC/DC group, and is now in an 80’s New Wave group. Not only has her playing dramatically improved, but her social skills have as well since she found other kids her age that are into music she likes. Thanks SoR for having a great place for kids to experience music and friendship!

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.

excellent experience for our son! great lessons, rehearsals and concerts!

Absolutely THE best in LV my child loves everyone and everything @ School of Rock

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.

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.

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.

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.

Love the school for their great teachers, professional and courteous staff, and an amazing program! Strongly recommend to anyone wanting to pursue their dream of joining a band and having fun!

I can not praise the Waldwick School of Rock enough! On one end the level of expertise & professionalism is unbelievable, and that somehow that comes along with so much fun & the sense that you belong to a family is truly extraordinary. The management, the teachers, the administrators are all just wonderful, talented, caring people. I’ve taken voice lessons where one teacher is just as amazing as the other, but in different ways, all with the drive to guide me to be the best that I can be & to step out of my comfort zone. I’ve joined the Adult Jam Band as a complete novice, yet I was still welcomed with open arms & made to feel at home. The Waldwich SOR is just a gem for anyone who would like to take their passion for music further, while being in the best company!

The teachers make learning instruments fun and expose the kids to great music. All of the staff we’ve had experience with are patient, kind, and energetic. My son has learned so much in under a year and feels like the School of Rock is a home away from home. It’s one of the best choices we’ve made for our son.

Although it was wonderful to see our daughter perform, I wish we could have heard her more. Perhaps some fiddling with the mic so her volume was higher since the other singer was so loud. The venue choice was so convenient & liked that we didn’t have to buy tickets.

Love this place!!!!! Raz is the man!!!!

School of Rock West LA has state of the art facilities and wonderful instructors! The class structure of a 30-minute private lesson and a group lesson accelerates the learning and fun. As a parent, I appreciate the WiFi lounge allowing me to work while my son is in class and I can easily run errands or pick up dinner at the local shops and restaurants nearby. I also love how the School of Rock App makes practicing at home easy. My 9-year-old son is having a blast learning to play the electric guitar and I highly recommend School of Rock West LA.

The teachers here are amazing!! So engaging and knowledgeable

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.

This is the third year my boys have come to School of Rock Annapolis Advanced Camp. We come from West Virginia just to go to School of Rock (this is the closest one to us). Even though we are only part of School of Rock for one week out of the year the boys love their School of Rock family. The instructors are always awesome and are great at encouraging them. Year after year they get to play with the same kids and they have that summer camp camaraderie that is just so special. School of Rock Summer Camp really challenges the boys musically and with logistics of putting a band together and working together to get a concert out in 5 days. We love School of Rock.

My daughter had the best time at the summer camp!

We appreciate the focus on music our kid actually WANTS to play and the individualized support he receives. The group performances are well thought-out and very inclusionary, allowing kids to stretch their wings by also doing backup instrumentation and vocals. Our son has grown tremendously in a very short time with School of Rock, both as a musician and with his personal confidence. We will continue as long as we can!

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.

My son has had a great experience and loves it! It’s a great group of people, and he’s made a lot of friends who share the same interests as him.

As a student at the East Brunswick School of Rock, I can first hand tell you that every single child with a passion for music will love School of Rock. Kids fit right in with the others, staff and students alike are very welcoming. My ability as a musician, both physically and mentally are much more inclined to the music scene due to the wonderful people I have met through my time at the School of Rock.

Nice service , nice people,my daughter likes her lessons.

Great place to get young kids exposed to music and instruments.

The owner Denise is very rude and unprofessional! I was running late for my son’ s rescheduled lesson. I arrived about 20 minutes late due to an accident on route 18 to a locked school. When I spoke to Denise, she said the teacher had to go to work. When I told her my son’s lessons were 45 minutes, he still had time in his lesson. He still had 25 minutes left. She told me for the first time, it’s policy that they wait 15 minutes. Although the teacher was willing to reschedule the lesson, she refused to allow it. She would not en reshedule the 25 minutes that the teacher was not there. She stole 25 minutes from my son.

Needless to say, I gave 1 months notice and cancelled and now my son goes to the School of Rock in Clark. He is loving it. In addition to private lessons he is taking Rock 101. When I asked the manager at the Clark location if it is School of Rock procedure to wait only 15 minutes, she said she never heard of that. She told me if someone doesnt show, they call to follow up and see if you are on your way. I believe this is common courtesy, especially since, we are early 99 percent of the time. I guess all Denise cares about is getting your money! She did me a favor though because the Clark location is actually closer to my house.

Take heed when dealing with her.

The most unprofessional owner who defames other local business’ and will argue with parents. If I could give it 0 stars I would. The instructors are fabolous and great with kids. I’m not sure how this place is in business still based on management alone.

Bad management. My grandson went to the camp here. Very expensive and not very professional…..his brand new guitar broke on the first day at camp….the counselor didn’t see what happened…well where was he?? There are only 6 kids in the class and a small room. How could he not know what happened? The web site says that they will provide instruments….all they could provide him with was an electric guitar….which he did not like ….not what he wanted so they convinced him to play the keyboard. We had to convince him that he had to try to go back the next day….he was very upset but this place is too expensive to just give up. They advertise all kinds of “great” teaching methods and that your child will learn how to play a song. Well for over $400 he learned 3 notes on the keyboard. They had a show at the end of the week…what joke…the drummer and the two guitar player obviously had been going to this place for lessons for quite a while. They should really have better management. Another point came up that my grandson said it was too loud…I sent him with my phone headphones and asked when I dropped him off if they had headphones he could use since mine were not really the correct ones….I was told they have them but they are on a first come first served basis…well when I went to the show no other child had headphones so where were they ones that they had. The room is so tiny and they had tremendous speakers….way too loud for this purpose…I know sound like and old lady but this place is not what it’s advertised to be. At least for the camps. Maybe their lessons are better but if I were you I wouldn’t waste my money here. And now we have to buy another guitar!