St. Paul’s Lowertown District just got much, much, MUCH cooler thanks to the new School of Rock (SOR) - founded by the guy who inspired the Jack Black movie of the same name.

According to the Star Tribune, SOR is:

…a national chain of performance-based schools where kids ages 8 to 17 learn to jam and riff…

Forget about waiting through a dozen kids’ solos for Junior’s recital. These kids’ first homework assignment: Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” which they will learn in the next three months and perform at a club in front of a real crowd in January.

“I’ve taken lessons before, but the difference here is, I learn what I want to learn instead of some scales that are supposed to help me down the road but I forget before I get there,” said Nate, a junior.

There are many other resources in the cities for kids to take music lessons, but this is definitely a one of a kind, year round program. And while I worry that these kids aren’t being taught scales, how to read music and all the rest that goes into being a long-term professional musician, this is something I wish had been around when I was growing up.