School of Rock Newtown to Perform in Wildwood Memorial Day Weekend

Students from the School of Rock Newtown’s elite Bucks Band have been invited to headline the Grand Opening of the new School of Rock Stage at Morey’s Adventure Pier in Wildwood, New Jersey on Sunday, May 25th at 7 p.m. The Bucks Band is composed of the afterschool music program’s most accomplished students who have played throughout Bucks County. Over the course of the school’s 10 years in operation the band has evolved into a sought-after local act. The [artBox] at Morey’s is an innovative space that fuses live music and the work of hand-picked regional artists with the thrilling rides that have brought generations of vacationers to the pier on Wildwood’s iconic Boardwalk.

This past Labor Day weekend the Bucks Band participated in a Battle of the Bands for the title “King of the Boards” at the pier and came away with the top prize. The September 1st contest, the culmination of a summer that drew School of Rock musicians from all over the region, was for a cash prize of $1000. The Newtown SOR students won with their scorching cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Since I’ve been Loving You.”

Upon winning the $1,000 prize the 10-member band unanimously decided to donate the money to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Maryann Ellis, mother of Bucks Band member Sean Ellis, died suddenly last July. She had suffered from Type I diabetes since childhood and the students decided to donate the money to the foundation in her memory. According to the band’s director, Rob Groden, “Watching the reaction of these kids when the winner was announced is why I love my job and for them to unselfishly donate this money to a cause that is near and dear to us just takes it to another level.”

School of Rock Newtown has been in operation at the Village at Newtown Shopping Center for nearly two years, and has been teaching music in a unique and interactive way for ten years. Through an innovative curriculum and community atmosphere, students not only learn music, but develop problem-solving and teamwork skills that cross over into other areas of their lives. At the Newtown school they are also learning to give back to the community: in the Fall of 2012 they raised over $1400 for hurricane relief efforts and last October participated in and performed for a second year in the Bucks-Mont Light The Night® Walk to support the Eastern PA Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

In late June the Bucks Band will travel to Milwaukee for the second year in a row to participate in Gemba, a one-of-a-kind rock party where School of Rock students from all over the country will represent their home school in a head to head competition in front of VIP judges. The judges will award a best of festival prize to the band that impresses them the most.  This whirlwind of rock all takes place in June at the infamous Summerfest in Milwaukee.   

School of Rock operates 100 schools in 25 states, Mexico and Brazil, expanding to meet the tremendous demands of parents who want enriching after-school programs for their kids who want to play music. For more information about School of Rock, please visit www.SchoolofRock.com.