Rock On Drum Lessons with Dan Drohan
Beginner to Advanced Levels! Topics we will cover:
- Stick Technique
- Reading
- Functions of Groove
- Improvisation
- Independence
- Different Genres and Cultures within Music
and More…”
Rock On featured in The Berkshire Eagle
Rock On 2019 was featured in the Berkshire Eagle. Here’s an excerpt from the article by Sophie Gaddes:
“PITTSFIELD — When Valerie Campsie first walked into RockOn, a two-week summer program for young musicians, she was nervous.
“My first year here, I would stand around all shy,” Campsie said, recalling her start as a student at RockOn three summers back. “As it went on, people would tell me, `Don’t be nervous, it’s all in your head.’ You really build a family here.”
RockOn meets at the Berkshire Music School on 30 Wendell Ave. in Pittsfield from noon to 5 p.m. The students, ranging from 10 to 18 years old, workshop a variety of skills, including songwriting, guitar playing and singing. At the end of each week, the students perform a public concert as a band.”
Pittsfield Rocks!
Announcing:
Two Weeks of Rock On at the Berkshire Music School
July 8-19, 12-5pm
Calling all singers and instrumentalists! (keyboard, guitar, bass, saxophone, drums, strings, etc.)
Activities include group lessons, band rehearsals, workshops in songwriting with Robin O’Herin, rapping and lyric writing with Jackson Whalan, Onstage Live with Sherri James Buxton. Instructors include Jay Fruet, guitar, Allen Livermore, saxophone, Jeff Link, bass, Jerry Giguere and Conor Meehan, drums, Ben Kohn, keyboard, and Sherri James Buxton, voice. Plus special guests for Rock@Noon.
Instruction for all levels of experience. Ages 10 to 18. Limit 25 participants per week.
Public performance at the end of each week. $250 per week. Register online or call BMS at 413-442-1411.
Week 3
July 22-26
Rock On Recording Project with Jeff Link and Frank Kennedy
Berkshire Community College
rockonworkshop.org
Week 4
August 5-9
RockOn at the Guthrie Center
Songwriting Intensives
Annie Guthrie, Wes Buckley, Robin O’Herin
Special guest: Seth Glier
$175 for the program.
Click Here to Register for this Program
Songwriting, With Special Guests
This has been one of our most popular and formative programs! Songwriters Annie Guthrie and Wes Buckley will guest with Robin O’Herin for workshops on crafting a song, lyric writing, performing, and building a career as a solo artist.
OnStage Live Returns to Rock On 2019
Sherri James Buxton and Bob Shepard return to present OnStage Live, in collaboration with Berkshire Music School. OnStage Live is one of our most popular vocalist intensives where students work with Sherri and Bob on a cabaret of vocal focused hits including standards of Broadway show tunes, jazz, pop, art songs, rock, and more.
Recording Intensive – New Opportunities for Rock On Attendees
New opportunities this year include our recording intensive course with Frank Kennedy and Jeff Link. We put together a band of Rock On faculty and alum to pilot this program with Jeff’s direction. This is in addition to our regular program from Jeff Link. Our regular recording workshops are on the use of SONAR and Pro Tools software will be taught by Jeff Link. Jeff’s classes serve as an introduction to BCC’s Music Production Certificate program.
Listen below to the result from Frank’s studio this winter. Featuring: Christina Reger on vocals, Abbey McGrath on vocals, Zoey Cahill on vocals, Zachary Winston on drums, Vladimir Zeleny on Guitar, Jeff Link on bass and auxiliary percussion
Debut of WinterRock: A Prelude to RockOn @ the Berkshire Music School
RockON and the Berkshire Music School Present: WinterRock
Teen Open Mic at the Whit
Hosted in 2018, a teen focused open mic night hosted by Rock On students at the Whitney Center for the Arts. The Whitney Center is located at 42 Wendell Avenue, Pittsfield, MA.
Taiga in the Berkshires
In 2018 Rock On students, interns, and instructors once again helped form the live band for Williamstown Theatre Festival’s Community Works production. Obie Award-winning playwright Lucy Thurber’s “Once Upon a Time in the Berkshires” was performed at the world-class ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance Main Stage. Over 2,000 people attended the 4 shows with the venue at capacity each night. Directed by Lee Overtree, music directed by Jack Mitchell, featuring music written by Rock On Alum Christine Bile.
Rock On 2018 July 9-27
Click here for more information on our BCC summer program.
The summer program ran for three weeks, Monday-Friday, 11-5pm, July 9 -27, at Berkshire Community College (BCC). The BCC Summer program is packed with songwriting and music production workshops, on and off campus performances, and our Rock@Noon series of lecture demonstrations by visiting artists and faculty. New workshops this year include “Fundamentals of Music and Sight Reading” with Jeff Link, a hip hop workshop with Andres Ramirez of Funk Box Dance Studio, “Hip Hop and The Art of Rhyme” with Jackson Whalan.
Songwriters Annie Guthrie, Bobby Sweet, and Wes Buckley joined Robin O’Herin for workshops on crafting a song, lyric writing, performing, and building a career as a solo artist. Rapper Jackson Whalan and drummer Brandon Lewis, who create and perform together as Technicolor Lenses, taught workshops on rapping, lyric writing, music production, mixing, and editing. Recording workshops on the use of SONAR and Pro Tools software will be taught by Jeff Link. Jeff’s classes serve as an introduction to BCC’s Music Production Certificate program.
Program director and guitarist Jay Fruet heads up a wonderful faculty including guitar virtuoso Emil Werstler, vocalists Vikki True and Livio Gravini, pianist Ben Kohn, ukulele with Bernice Lewissaxophonist Allen Livermore, and drummers Chris Mattoon and Jerry Giguere.
Rock On’s community partners further expand our enriching program. These programs, managed by Rock On’s community liaison Vladimir Zeleny, extend our program beyond BCC and include: Discover Pittsfield’s 3rd Thursday Celebrations, the Whitney Center for the Arts Teen Open Mic Series, Williamstown Theater Festival’s Community Works Productions, The Stationery Factory and Grow Dalton’s 413Heart Festival, and Albany Berkshire Ballet’s Process and Performance Project for Choreographers and Composers, and many more performance opportunities around the Berkshires!
Funk Box Dance Studio at Rock On 2018
Andres Ramirez of The Funk Box Dance Studio will join our program at the BCC summer workshop in 2018. Students are encouraged to learn Hip Hop and Break dance as we add movement into our curriculum at Rock On. This workshop is open to all ages, no experience necessary.
Annie Guthrie at Rock on 2018
Annie Guthrie is the middle daughter of folksinger Arlo Guthrie and artist Jackie Guthrie. Guthrie is a prolific songwriter and versatile musician who primarily plays acoustic guitar, bass, percussion and autoharp. Annie’s songs are honest, ranging from light and funny to gut-wrenching heartbreak (mostly gut-wrenching heartbreak); as her grandfather Woody Guthrie said, “You can only write what you see” and she has taken that to heart writing songs that tell it like it is. Annie will be joining us for the final week of Rock On, see you there, register today!
Pittsfield Suns Partnership
Rock On students and alum will be featured in pre-game performances and as singers of the national anthem for Pittsfield Suns games.
Brandon Lewis returns to Rock On 2018
Brandon Lewis will be returning as drum faculty at Rock On this summer! Brandon is a past Rock On student then intern who has become a masterful musician and regular Rock On instructor. He knows the Rock On experience inside out and provides a wealth of knowledge and skill with the ability to communicate techniques. When a musician masters the ability to keep his own identity, thus at the same time honoring the vision of the other players around, we can say that he “has his own sound”. Brandon Lewis aka B-Riddimz is a musician that has found his “own sound” incorporating electronic synthesized beats on top of a “jazz” platform. He works with many national and international touring and recording groups but we best know his work with Brooklyn Gypsies, V Zone, Art Decade, and Technicolor Lenses.
Jackson Whalan returns to Rock On 2018
Jackson Whalan will be joining Rock On for all 3 weeks of camp this year! Jackson will be teaching production, rap, beat mixing, and performing in his workshop “Hip Hop and The Art of Rhyme” Jackson’s program was one of our students favorites in 2017, and one of our most requested to return in 2018. Inspired by his experience at Rock On, Jackson is excited and prepared with an even more developed program for July 2018.
https://youtu.be/urRn5HMjWMc//
Once Upon A Time In The Berkshires
In 2017 Rock On students, interns, and instructors once again formed the live band for Williamstown Theatre Festival’s Community Works production. Obie Award-winning playwright Lucy Thurber’s “Once Upon a Time in the Berkshires” was performed at the world-class ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance Main Stage. Over 2,000 people attended the 4 shows with the venue at capacity each night. Directed by Laura Savia, music directed by Jack Mitchell.
Pittsfield Shakespeare in the Park – Twelfth Night
A new partnership in 2017, Rock On students performed pre-show serenades for the annual Shakespeare in the Park production. This year’s Twelfth Night was their fourth annual production. We are excited to return.
413Heart Festival 2017
The 413Heart Festival grew this year from one evening in one venue to four full days in multiple Dalton, MA locations. Rock On students, alum, faculty and local musicians who support Rock On’s mission formed a central component to this festival at the Dalton CRA.
Orpheus
Check out this behind-the-scenes video of Orpheus! Williamstown Theatre Festival Community Works’ 2016 production featured Rock On students and interns as the live band and Rock On’s Christine Bile as Orpheus.
Steve Holley at Rock On 2017
Steve Holley was a guest instructor at Rock On the week of July 17-21, 2017. Steve performed and recorded with Paul McCartney’s Wings from 1978-81. He also worked with Elton John, Kiki Dee, G.T. Moore & The Reggae Guitars, Joe Cocker, Ian Hunter, Julian Lennon, Dar Williams, Ben E. King, and Chuck Berry, Jules Shear’s band Reckless Sleepers. Recently, Steve has been touring with Ian Hunter for several years as a member of Ian Hunter’s Rant band. For Rock On 2017, Steve performed with Berkshires Beatles tribute band Beatlesque, and Rock On students at the Boland Theater at Berkshire Community College.
Music Production Certificate at BCC, taught by Jeff Link
At Rock On, kids get to work with Jeff Link in Berkshire Community College’s 12-station MIDI lab and 8-station Pro Tools Lab. It’s great prep for enrolling in BCC’s music program. Several Rock On alumni have enrolled in this program!
Check out more info on BCC’s music program here: https://www.berkshirecc.edu/programs-and-classes/fine-and-performing-arts/music-production-certificate.php