Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is proud to announce it is awarding the National Citation to the Paul Green School of Rock at the 2008 Midwest Clinic at the Hilton Tower in Chicago, Illinois. The presentation will take place at a reception sponsored by the Sinfonia Educational Foundation on Thursday, December 18, starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Astoria Room. 

Founded in 1998 in Philadelphia, the Paul Green School of Rock is a music education program for students ranging in age from 7 to 18. In ten years, they have expanded to over 60 cities across the country. Each school features seasonal shows, private lessons, group rehearsals, workshops and special guests. In some cases, beginning students are grouped with more advanced musicians to provide guidance and to act as role models. 

Using rock music as their standard, their goal is to help students realize their potential as artists, to put them on stage in front of as many people as possible and to help foster a new generation of musicians. Instrumentation focuses on electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboards, and vocals, but other instruments such as violins and horns are also welcome. 

Each group follows a curriculum developed by the school that covers many different genres of rock music. For lessons in harmony, a group will learn music from Queen; to develop performance and stage presence, a group will focus on punk; to learn about musicianship, a group will discover Frank Zappa. Each group is paired with professional instructors who stress the fundamentals of both popular music and music theory in their teaching. 

Each year, their students play over 500 concerts to more than 200,000 people. Students are provided professional sound and light equipment and perform at such legendary venues as CBGB’s, The Trocadero, Cafe DuNord, The Knitting Factory, Cervantes Ballroom, and BB Kings in Times Square. They have opened for national acts, performed at festivals in the United States and Europe and have been featured on the Lollapalooza tour. 

Shows performed by students have included music by Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Beatles, Metallica, The Allman Brothers Band, King Crimson, Jimi Hendrix, Van Halen, The Doors, and Yes. Additionally, groups have performed Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Jesus Christ Superstar, and The Who’s Tommy. 

Students have interacted, learned and performed on stage with a number of accomplished rock musicians including:

  • Les Paul
  • Peter Frampton
  • Alice Cooper
  • Jon Anderson (vocalist for Yes)
  • Eddie Vedder (vocalist for Pearl Jam)
  • Adrian Belew (guitarist for King Crimson)
  • Stewart Copeland (drummer for The Police)
  • Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (guitarist for The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan)
  • Ann Wilson (vocalist for Heart)

All Sinfonians attending the Midwest Clinic and those living in Chicago and the surrounding areas are welcome to attend the reception. To learn more about the Paul Green School of Rock, visit www.schoolofrock.com, where you can find concert footage on their website or by searching YouTube.