My School of Rock Experience

By Andrew Altschuler

Staff Writer

Doing a drum solo on the spot in front of a crowd is pretty scary. I was doing a Led Zeppelin show for School of Rock in Cherry Hill, NJ, and for the last song in each show, the director introduces each member. The band who is playing in the background still plays while they are introduce everyone of us.

I was playing, “Whole Lotta Love”, and in the middle of the song, there is a two-minute breakdown, but I had to do it for at least five minutes. I was kind of scared because I was just coming up with what I did on the spot.

After each kid was introduced, I would do a little fill, and when I was introduced, I did the fill that was on the record that brings the song back into a little guitar solo. The song actually went pretty well. I did mess up a couple of times, nothing too major, and it was fine.

I think that was my favorite show I have ever done. For one, they are my favorite band. At the time, though, I didn’t like any bands, so the main reason I liked the show was because I got the only drum solo in the whole show.

I started playing drums when I was eight years old, but I apparently played when I was three while at my uncle’s house in California. I practice almost every day for about an hour. I also take lessons at the Malvern School of Music, but for the most part, I am self-taught.

I love to play Prog Rock and Classic Rock. Fast songs are preferably better, but I will sometimes play slower songs. My favorite drummer is John Bonham, the drummer for Led Zeppelin, because of his power and the cool fills that he does. I enjoy playing drums because it just comes natural to me, and it is fun to learn a song without having to read tabs.

I can just listen to a song once and understand the gist of it. It is also cool to play complicated and long songs so I can show off to people. I hope to one day be in a band that will actually not break up within one second. I also play bass, but I am not that good at it.

I hate to say this, but Ringo Starr was my main influence to start playing drums. I then started at School of Rock when I was around 11. The very first show I did was a Blink-182 and Green Day show. At that time I did not really like any style of music, so I just did that show because my parents wanted me to.

I have been at the School of Rock in Cherry Hill, N.J., for about three years now, and I did a show almost every season. Being in a show is a lot of fun. You rehearse for about three months, one time a week, and the director of the show chooses a band or type of music that you will play. The 20 or so kids who sign up for a show will be given songs depending on how good they are.

If you are just starting, you get about two to four songs, but if you are pretty good, you get six to eight songs. In March, I started at a new School of Rock, so I went to see a show with one of my friends, who went to School of Rock with me. They were playing a style of music called “Prog Rock”, or Progressive music. It is basically one of the hardest types of music ever created. The student musicians played it so perfectly it wasn’t even funny. They played some of the hardest bands, like Pink Floyd, Yes, and King Crimson. They played music ranging from four-minute songs, to 20-minute songs.

In March, I started my first show at the Main Line School of Rock. I am doing an Iron Maiden show, and this is the first time I am doing a show that has very hard bass lines, and I have managed to learn them. I am on one of their most famous songs, named “Run to the Hills”, on bass, and it is pretty fun to play.

I am on seven songs in total, and every song sounds fine. In the Iron Maiden show, songs range from three minutes to 13 minutes. There are some really good guitarists and singers in the show that have impressed me.

People sometimes praise me for my drumming skills, I don’t think I am all that amazing. I probably won’t go to college for music, but if I do become better, then I might minor in it.