Kids Ready to Rock Music

At 1 p.m. on Sunday, Lower East Side music venue Drom had a formidable audience assembled at tables in front of the stage, perching on stools and ordering drinks at the venue’s full bar.

A familiar scene for a downtown music club, though not one musician on stage could order much more than a ginger ale, and some might have trouble seeing over the bar.

The young musicians hail from School of Rock, a music school based on the Upper East Side that emphasizes live performance. The concept originated in Philadelphia in the early millennium with musician and guitar teacher Paul Green, who discovered that music lessons structured as band rehearsals were more effective than one-on-one instruction alone. Now an international franchise, the music school pairs individual lessons with weekly band rehearsals with fellow students, which all leads to a live show at a local music venue. Recent themes included the music of Jimi Hendrix, Queen and The Police.

“If you’re not playing in rhythm or you’re playing bad notes, you’re going to hear it in a way that you can’t when you’re playing by yourself,” said guitar instructor Bob Jones. “With a wind ensemble, if you’re one of six trumpets it’s really easy not to play at all. But if you’re up there and you’re a bass player in a band, there’s nowhere to hide.”

On Jan. 10 and 11, two dozen students took to the stage, covering classics by the Rolling Stones and the Eagles, performances they’ve been preparing for since September.

“I get nervous,” said keyboard student Tejas Varma, 10, during rehearsal a few days before the show. “But that helps because I know I’ve gotta get this, and I’ve gotta try my hardest. I have bad days and good days. Like today might be a bad day but on the show I just gotta be like, ‘OK, there are a lot of people here, you don’t want to mess up.’”

The students in the program cite a range of musical preferences, from Meghan Trainor and One Direction to Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel and Barry Manilow. Ten-year-old Eleanor Adams, a pint-size keyboard player and singer in leather jeggings and an AC/DC shirt, recently learned one of her favorite songs, the Beatles’ “Let It Be,” by ear on the piano.

“Taylor Swift is kind of my pop artist right now,” said bass player Ari Silverman, 14, as he sat on an amp during a recent rehearsal, bass guitar in his lap. He went on to list Cream bassist Jack Bruce as inspiration, along with the new film “Whiplash.” “But don’t sign me up for country. I hate country. It’s so catchy I want to kill myself.”

Meanwhile, Ari’s younger brother Henry, 10, is new to the program and just learning guitar. If he could meet any musician, alive or dead, he’d choose Jimi Hendrix “because he is God,” he said. “Actually, no. Clapton is God. But Hendrix is Hendrix.”

The School of Rock space on East 75th Street near York Avenue functions as part after-school hangout, part rehearsal space. During down time, students head out two-by-two for pizza and Subway sandwiches, and play video games on their phones. But when they plug in, it’s mostly business.

“You get these kids on these songs and the next year when they come back they know even more,” said guitar instructor Nick Llobet, who directed the Eagles show. “They’re just reliable. You can count on them to learn these songs.”

At the performance, the students were decked out in their stage gear, in knit beanies and fedoras, leather jackets and Stones tees. Spare seats were hard to come by as parents and friends took pictures and video on their iPhones. Between songs, jokes were told to the audience while guitars were tuned, and the crowd was asked to sing along.

“Hello Drom,” Ari said into the mic before playing “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” a song that featured an impressive guitar solo by Foster Hudson, who dropped to his knees for the interlude. The crowd, as they say, was feeling it. The band soaked it in. The whole show was a little bit magical.

“It makes going to see adults play music not quite as special,” said Jones, who directed the Rolling Stones set. “It’s really refreshing. And it makes me less tolerant when I’m at a show and someone’s on stage with a bad attitude or whatever. Like, I was just with a ten-year-old who can smoke you guys.”