ROK SKOOL

Newsletter - Winter 2010

Tunbridge Wells Edition: no. 3

WHAT A PERFORMANCE!
Crikey Mikey, one of Rok Skool’s bands, performed alongside 250
fellow students at Rok Skool’s annual Christmas Show, Kool Yool ’09
Happy New Year and welcome back to between sessions. We encourage all of our
students to take part in our shows and
Rok Skool. As many of you know, we finished
2009 on a real high, with over 250 Rok Skool
experience the thrills and challenges that go
hand-in-hand with performing live.
bean
students taking part in our annual Christmas This term, we will be staging a concert at
show - Kool Yool ’09. The show was staged The Forum in Tunbridge Wells on Saturday 27th
over two nights and despite the snow, our February featuring bands, vocalists and
students performed to a sold-out musicians from Rok Skool at Bean.
theatre of over 250 people per Tickets are £5 and profits from
night. This was Rok Skool’s ticket sales will be donated to
best show to date, setting the The Soup Bowl, a local
standard for all future At Rok Skool, we organisation that provides
performances! Well done to teach from beginner food to the hungry and
everyone who performed and
upwards homeless of Tunbridge Wells
for those behind stage who and the surrounding area (see
helped make these concerts back page for more information).
run so smoothly -they were truly This term we are also running in-
memorable shows. school band workshops at Bennett
We have an exciting term ahead of us at Memorial for a select group of Year 8 and Year 9
Rok Skool. For those of you who are new or students. Rok Skool is looking to run similar In the photo above are Jason,
who are contemplating joining in the future, age 8 (left on guitar) and Sky,
workshops at other local primary and secondary
performance is core to the Rok Skool aged 9 (right on lead vocals)
schools, so let us know if you think your school
experience. We stage concerts throughout the of Rok Skool band Eridge
would benefit from the Rok Skool Experience.
year because they give our students something Station. The band performed
We still have a limited amount of Living On A Prayer by Bon Jovi
to work towards and an added incentive to availability for new students wishing to join Rok for Kool Yool ’09.
practice. The concerts are great fun and reward Skool for this term. If you are interested, please
our students for all of their hard work and do not hesitate to contact us on tel: 01892
practice - both while at Rok Skool and at home 829004.

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 J oe has been playing music all his life. Growing up with a recording
studio in the house, he mastered all the essential rock instruments
Joe Kaye, and became an accomplished studio engineer. By fourteen he was
playing in bands and writing music, and signed his first publishing
deal before he was 20.
Senior Instructor,
Joe has a degree in music technology and has worked as a studio
Rok Skool at Bean producer, arranger, musical director, and teacher ever since, apart
from a short spell as a radio DJ on Heart FM.

Along with teaching, Joe also runs ‘The Amy Winehouse Experience’, a
tribute band that has played from southern Spain to the northern reaches of
Finland and Estonia. Joe also performs throughout the South East with the band
Orchard Road, alongside his family members Herry, Leon and Rory.

VOCAL COACHING
Due to high levels of demand, Rok Skool is
extending vocal coaching to include Tuesdays
Due to increased demand, While learning to sing your
we will be extending our vocal favourite songs, Mo will teach
coaching to include all day on you essential breathing
Mondays and Tuesdays as well techniques, vocal warm up
as Saturday mornings. exercises and how to take care

ROK SKOOL AT THE FORUM

As reported in our previous of your singing voice.
newsletter, Muriel Leadbitter
(aka “Mo”) joined us as vocal
coach from Rok Skool in
Haywards Heath. In addition
to teaching, Mo has been
performing and touring with
bands for over 30 years and
she is currently lead vocalist for
Keef, one of Rok Skool’s adult
bands.
Like all of Rok Skool
activities, vocal coaching is
available for people of all ages.
She will
also work with you to enhance
your singing voice and improve On Saturday 27th February
your confidence. You will also from 2pm - 4pm, Rok Skool
learn important performance will be staging a concert at
skills that will come in handy The Forum in Tunbridge
Wells. Profits from the
when you are given the
concert will be donated to
opportunity to perform live at The Soup Bowl, a local
one of Rok Skool’s many gigs charity that serves food to
and concerts (if you so wish). the hungry and homeless from
Trial lessons are available. Tunbridge Wells and the
surrounding area. Tickets
For more information contact us
are £5 and can be purchased
on telephone: 01892 829004. from 1st Feb. at Bean on St.
John’s Road or at The Forum
on 27th Feb.

JOIN A ROK SKOOL BAND & WE’LL GET YOU PERFORMING!!

Rok Skool runs bands for students aged 9 yrs and older, with most of our band members aged between 11 - 16 yrs. While some of our students
want to become rock stars, most are just looking for a fun way to learn to play music as part of a band. Our aim is to make Rok Skool bands available
to as many people as possible - so we run bands for students covering a wide range of experience levels. Joe Kaye, Senior Instructor at Rok Skool at
Bean reinforces the point “ I cannot stress enough, that you don’t have to be a superstar to join a Rok Skool band. Don’t get me wrong, we have some
experienced and talented musicians at Rok Skool, but we also have a large number of students who have played for one or two years and have joined
Rok Skool because being part of a band is a fun and sociable experience and a great way develop musically.” At the moment, we run 7 bands in
Tunbridge Wells and 25 bands across our two locations. To join one of our bands, you simply have to sign-up to Rok Skool. However, once you have
joined, you are committing yourself to attending weekly supervised band rehearsals and practicing at home between sessions. Our bands perform in
live concerts staged by Rok Skool and record songs in-house (Rok Skool’s band room is equipped with recording equipment). Joe Kaye comments,
“Performing live and recording are great learning experiences that really motivate students to practice hard. As an instructor it is really satisfying to see
how much a student improves and develops musically once he or she gets inspired - and that mostly comes from being in a band”. Anyone interested
in coming along to a trial band session should contact Rok Skool on telephone: 01892 829904.

Tel: 01892 829004 Rok Skool 68 St. John’s Road

Tunbridge Wells
Email: info@rokskool.co.uk
at Bean www.rokskool.net

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