Rocksteady any good?

[Whotookallthegoodusernames]

Hi,

In rocksteady do they actually learn notes and guitar chords?

It seems to say confidence as a main selling point but dcs not short on that.

I was talking about this with someone yesterday morning. Apparently they learn to play by ear and not reading music, and only learn one song a term (at our school at least). The children seem to love it, and the non participants really enjoy the termly concert. My daughter would love to join but it is a bit pricey for what they seem to get.

My son does Rocksteady at school.

As in the previous post, they learn by ear and learn one song per term., which they perform in a concern to the school plus Rocksteady parents at the end of term.

It is about learning a song as a group. Working together, musical listening skills, teamwork. It isn’t the same as instrument lessons on guitar or keyboard or drums or vocals (which would be a lot more expensive!).

It is expensive, and it is a shame lots of kids can’t access it for that reason. At our school only 4-5 kids do it from each class of 25-30.

It is lots of fun though, and will build musical skills and group confidence.

DD enjoys it and I like the concerts. She sings the songs she's done at home. On drums, I can see she's progressed and I get updates on the skills / rhythms she's covered. They don't read music. I'm thinking a traditional keyboard lesson plus rocksteady drums.

My dc loves it but they are pretty short on confidence so it's done them a lot of good. In terms of the more outgoing kids, it seems to help them learn to let other people have the spotlight sometimes. They don't learn much musically but their rhythm and understanding of music is better than it would be otherwise. it's more about learning to play with others in a group and perform.

If you primarily want them to learn an instrument, then i wouldn't recommend it as that's not the main focus and it's only 30 minutes a week so with a group of 6 kids, there's not much individual attention from the teacher. It's pretty easy to cancel and change instruments though so you could just give it a try.

My daughter enjoyed it, but it's not really about learning to play an instrument. I'm not sure she learned much.

Rocksteady is a gimmick and it sets the children up to fail. The songs are too complex for the kids, the lyrics don't mean anything to them - age inappropriate - and the result is a drone of sound which is dispiriting for all concerned.

They master a couple of malcoordinated chords each on the keyboards and guitars. The resulting cacophony sounds like a crap sound check. Perhaps if the organisation chose better, simpler songs (rather than the likes of Seven Nation Army or Killer Queen), or arranged them better, the children might be able to master them more easily.

I have sat through two hour long concerts now: both a wall of noise, bewildered parents with their heads in their hands and sad children, bravely soldiering through terrible renditions. Many far too young to have a clue what they are doing or singing about. The money would be better spent on proper music provision. It's a nice idea but dreadfully executed. The company capitalises on the fact that "all the kids want to do it". It makes me so angry and so sad! The enthusiasm the kids have and then the horrible result.

Aw I'm so sorry to hear that. I did wonder how kids can be band ready with little training. I thought like u say if they chose something simple or wrote their own songs it would work. Shame they didn't.

Thanks everyone, it sounds like it's not a substitute for music lessons and is expensive but might be fun.

It doesn't really teach them to play the guitar. Rote learning of chords, and a whole term to learn one song? The cost looks extortionate for group lessons. Does your county music service work in your school?

two of my children went for a couple of years. They don’t know how to read music, but can play the one song they do. I think it’s too expensive for what it is. We cancelled when the kids were on their 4th new teacher in 3 months and the end of term concert having to be delayed. I don’t think it’s worth the money.

I disagree. DS has been doing it for about 2-3 years and now in Y6. While it all sounds a bit out of time in the younger age groups, the Y6 bands are now starting to sound really quite together and it's clear they've made a lot of progress. In particular the drummers stand out.

I agree with @Wintersoltice . It might depend on how good the teacher is and how long they stay in a role but I can see progress in skills (drumming for one year).