OVIEDO -- How cool would it be to have your music student desire to practice an instrument during the week between lessons? About as awesome as it is for him or her to perform rock songs on stage.
The School of Rock in Oviedo has inspired young people, ages 8 to 18, for the past two years at the same location, 5420 Deep Lake Road, just off 426, Aloma Road, in Seminole County. If you live in Edgewater like we do, it's not that far away.
The drive is a little more than an hour from my home and well worth it once a week for my youngest daughter, Gina age 17, who is in the Lessons+ program. She enjoys singing lessons with teacher Heather Ladd of Oviedo who has been teaching guitar and vocals at this location for the past year.
During the 2013 summer break music students had a choice of different camps such as recording or songwriting. Gina was thrilled to be a part of the Songwriting and Recording Camp this past summer and said it was challenging at first.
By the end of the week, both groups of students were rewarded by recording a song they created together. Gina rose to the challenge motivated by her commitment to the other campers and learned team building skills and made new friends.
Wes Simmons said of the performances: "These kids, along with Justin Beckler (Producer) and Adam Balmert (as Assistant Producer), did a fantastic job.
Writing and recording a song in a week is no small task. And the fact that both songs turned out amazing is, well, "nothing short of amazing."