Hitting all the Right Chords: School of Rock Builds on New Approaches to Revolutionize the Music Learning Experience

School of Rock was founded by Paul Green in 1996, and hasn’t paused to stop rocking. Since then, the brand has provided a creative outlet for children that results in strong friendships, developing a sense of self-identity and gaining a newfound passion for music. There is an academic element; after all, it is a school, but School of Rock’s main focus is on child enrichment and igniting students’ creativity through the power of music.

School of Rock has over 200 schools in nine countries since it began franchising in 2010, including in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines and South Africa.  The brand’s overall success has been noted by Forbes, which ranked the brand No. 2 in its ‘Medium Investment’ category of best franchises on last year’s ‘Best and Worst Franchises to Buy.’ In 2019, School of Rock was also listed at No. 239 on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 List. 

The brand’s momentum has been further bolstered by its recent partnership with 20th Century Fox and the record label, Artist Partner Group. The collaboration with Fox led to the inclusion of the Queen frontman Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” into its curriculum, and ties with Artist Partner Group are giving way to new avenues of talent scouting and interartist development within a label. 

Given its established national and international presence, School of Rock dominates in terms of  franchise expansion, but the music education brand also excels in its understanding of its customer base. 

School of Rock combines  the best of both the music and education worlds thanks to technology and innovation. The brand launched an official app, “the Method app,” that uses the School’s “performance-based approach” to assign lessons by age and experience level to further help children learn guitar, keys and music. Not only is this app beneficial for the children learning instruments, but it also helps parents keep up with their child’s progress and performance history thanks to regularly collated data. Students can use all sorts of tools, ranging from tempo to backing track audio, to help enrich their learning experience. 

Furthermore, the app is unique in its delivery because it plays off School of Rock’s song-first method that teaches songs that inspire its students. Instead of playing nursery rhymes, kids can rock out to AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” in live performances—and by doing so, learn not only theory and practice, but also how to properly play and understand a B Mixolydian scale. The Method App emphasizes home practice by giving students access to Method books through mobile availability. 

School of Rock has once again proven  its commitment to boosting kids’ confidence while providing a beneficial service that cultivates creativity and lifelong skills. And that, frankly, rocks.