Therefore, from the moment a student joins one of our schools, he or she is playing music; loud and with other musicians and on genuine equipment, and before long we have our students playing shows. These are not your old-fashioned-wait-through-fiftly-other-kids-mangling-their-songs-until-our-child's-turn-arrives recitals, but real rock concerts at real rock venues before real rock audiences, complete with light shows, stagecraft, and (when appropriate) smoke machines.

To date our students have played over 350 such concerts, to more than 100,000 people, at such legendary venues as CBGB's, The Trocadero, The Knitting Factory, Cafe DuNord, WOW Hall, The Big Easy, Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom and BB King's Blues Club in Times Square. We have also had the reat fortune to be able to perform at music festivals from Richardson Texas (Wildflower) to Bad Doberan Germany (Zappanale).

Our goal at the school is twofold: to help our students to realize their amazing potential as artists, and then to put them on stage in front of as many people as possible. To attain the first goal, we have established a highly comnpetetive, yet thoroughly supportive environment, where our students are challenged at every turn.

Shows are picked for their educational merit and content (e.g. Queen to learn about harmony, Punk to develop performance and stage presence, Zappa for a crash course in musicianship). It is never even suggested that these kids shouldn't be able to learn and play their parts. Thus, if they fail, they fail at aiming at the best. And when they succeed, which is more often than not, they have accomplished somehting extraordinary. I learned long ago that if you do not tell kids what they cannot do, they may never learn for themselves.

--Paul Green