Rock and Roll Academy Opens in 6 New Locations

06 Sep Rock and Roll Academy Opens in 6 New Locations

It’s not easy to learn an instrument. Most of us can think of a dreaded piano teacher or worse, the dreaded conversation with mom or dad telling us “it’s time to practice!” But at Mark Galbo’s Rock and Roll Academy, the fun is put back into music class. Students form bands and learn music by playing the music they want to play. In doing so, they gain experience with multiple instruments, and they gain life skills, learning how to manage a group, meet deadlines, and fine-tune their art. Students are full of praise about the experience, describing Rock and Roll Academy as a kind of sanctuary and saying, “it gives you a chance to stop and breathe. There’s less focus on right and wrong. It’s okay to make mistakes.”

SC Senator Phil Owens checks out the Rock and Roll Academy

Until recently, however, this experience was limited to Telluride. Now, that’s changed. In the coming year, Rock and Roll Academy is opening 6 new locations in places as close as Durango and as far-flung as Puerto Rico. The academies are housed in a variety of schools—private, public, charter, even after-school programs.

Yet, while there are now multiple places experiencing this program, the vision is still the same. Rock and Roll Academy’s mission is to create and protect an atmosphere (in Telluride, it’s a red-walled studio) where kids can make choices, take ownership of their learning, and develop independence of thought and spirit. Galbo is heavily involved in the growth of every new academy, traveling to new locations at the onset, as well as for additional visits. “My goal is to get as many students as possible into the magic red room.”

Rock and Roll Academy had humble beginnings. It started in 2003 with Mark Galbo carrying boxes of Strumsticks up to the Telluride Mountain School’s great room, back when it was still housed in a condominium in Mountain Village. But when the Mountain School moved to Lawson School and expanded its facilities, Rock and Roll Academy had the chance to start anew and consciously become, as Telluride Mountain School’s former head Ernie Patterson put it, “a beacon of light” for the community.

Shawn Wilson visits Rock and Roll Academy

The past 10 years have seen Rock and Roll Academy do just that. Its studio has become a place for Telluride’s children to grow and change; its concerts, a place for them to get on stage and perform, something many of them have never done prior to RRA.

Mark credits his success, in part, to the Telluride Mountain School, which houses Rock and Roll Academy’s Telluride location, and whose “unique culture and open atmosphere allowed me to explore and develop my methodology.” He also credits his students who taught him to lead his business in the same way he teaches. “I encourage my students to have the willingness to learn and transform. I try to run RRA the same way.”

Galbo is grateful for the opportunity to expand the program to new places. He’s not the only one. Teachers experiencing the RRA program for the first time are in awe. Says Florida’s South Tech Academy lead facilitator Sandi Hagood, “It is so rewarding to not be in teacher mode for 90 minutes and just enjoy observing and having kids call me over when they need help. When I get home I’m much less stressed. It’s just remarkably better than any other experience I’ve had at any other school.”

Catch a glimpse of RRA and Mark Galbo in action in this video.