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ENLARGE
Music of note: As Justin Arp plays a song by the heavy metal group Metallica, classmate Jillian Butler tries to create a wrong note by touching one of the guitar strings last week. The two are part of Days Creek Charter School’s Rock 101 class that studies history, poetry and music using rock music as a teaching tool.
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ENLARGE
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Pastor sings: Students listen to Ron Stephens as he plays songs at Days Creek Charter School recently. The school has a Rock 101 class that works on history, poetry and music.
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ENLARGE
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Behind a wall poster for the Beatles, Days Creek Charter School senior Jamal Luster practices some heavy metal riffs.
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DAYS CREEK — A psychedelic Jimi Hendrix poster greets visitors to Rock Hall. Bob Marley towers above to the left.
The hallway is short, and it’s covered with rock stars from Elvis Presley to Green Day, all leading to Robin Trask’s English classroom at Days Creek Charter School.
Inside the classroom, Jamal Luster has used a black marker to write band names on a chair. Pantera, his favorite band, is outlined in red.
The white board says, “2 cover tunes. Bring a recording, lyrics, tabs.” It’s an assignment for Rock 101, an elective class Trask and James Ellis teach.
It was students Luster, Zach Sanford and Justin Arp who took the idea to Trask. When the school became a charter school, students were asked what electives they would like to study.
They came up with Rock 101, and Trask has combined music performance, history and poetry, with art and sociology mixed in.
“I thought it was a great idea, a great way to engage kids in learning,” Trask said.
Last semester, the class brought in 20 of the 80 high school students. That’s a large class for Days Creek, and this semester it filled up again.
“I think music is so important to young people,” Trask said, “ and they have an opportunity to link that to school now.”
“I wanted to learn how to play,” 16-year-old Anjelica Smith said.
“I wanted to learn about the history of rock and how it became what it is today,” Stephanie Rogers, also 16, added. “And I wanted to learn how to play.”
The trio that started the class helps teach it. They work with other students on the guitar, and Luster, who is 18 and a senior, is earning a history credit by teaching about the history of rock ’n’ roll from the 1950s on.
Sanford and Arp, both 16, are most interested in music from the 1970s.
“So much rebellion and stuff came from the ’70s,” Arp said.
Sanford appreciated how the music promoted peace. The musicians learned to express their ideas, he said, and that taught all the musicians of the 1980s and ’90s.
But Luster thinks there’s too much emphasis on the past. He prefers the ’90s and beyond.
The hallway is short, and it’s covered with rock stars from Elvis Presley to Green Day, all leading to Robin Trask’s English classroom at Days Creek Charter School.
Inside the classroom, Jamal Luster has used a black marker to write band names on a chair. Pantera, his favorite band, is outlined in red.
The white board says, “2 cover tunes. Bring a recording, lyrics, tabs.” It’s an assignment for Rock 101, an elective class Trask and James Ellis teach.
It was students Luster, Zach Sanford and Justin Arp who took the idea to Trask. When the school became a charter school, students were asked what electives they would like to study.
They came up with Rock 101, and Trask has combined music performance, history and poetry, with art and sociology mixed in.
“I thought it was a great idea, a great way to engage kids in learning,” Trask said.
Last semester, the class brought in 20 of the 80 high school students. That’s a large class for Days Creek, and this semester it filled up again.
“I think music is so important to young people,” Trask said, “ and they have an opportunity to link that to school now.”
“I wanted to learn how to play,” 16-year-old Anjelica Smith said.
“I wanted to learn about the history of rock and how it became what it is today,” Stephanie Rogers, also 16, added. “And I wanted to learn how to play.”
The trio that started the class helps teach it. They work with other students on the guitar, and Luster, who is 18 and a senior, is earning a history credit by teaching about the history of rock ’n’ roll from the 1950s on.
Sanford and Arp, both 16, are most interested in music from the 1970s.
“So much rebellion and stuff came from the ’70s,” Arp said.
Sanford appreciated how the music promoted peace. The musicians learned to express their ideas, he said, and that taught all the musicians of the 1980s and ’90s.
But Luster thinks there’s too much emphasis on the past. He prefers the ’90s and beyond.
All three have found it interesting — and sometimes frustrating — to see how other students learn.
Arp likes seeing the students’ progress and how much they are able to demonstrate in their final project.
“You’ve really got to hold back all your frustrations in order to teach,” Luster said.
“Everybody’s different. Everybody’s a different learner.”
Last Tuesday, they put aside the role of teacher and learned from Umpqua Community College music professor Jason Heald and Heald’s friend and former bandmate, Ron Stephens, a pastor from Toutle, Wash.
In the morning, the students broke up into groups to work on their guitar skills. Heald taught basic chords, while Stephens helped the more advanced students play “Sharp Dressed Man” by ZZ Top. He divided the guitar parts up, and, after a little work, they were playing together.
After a lunch break, the students came back together to learn how to play the drums.
Heald talked about the history of the modern drum set. Then he had the students work on coordination, tapping out rhythms with their hands and feet. He kept making it more complicated, and he explained concepts like backbeat as he went along.
Heald offered to teach a class after he met Days Creek Superintendent Laurie Newton.
“We were looking for some opportunities in South County,” he said. The college received a grant from the Lilja Family Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation to support cultural opportunities for South County high school students.
Arp likes seeing the students’ progress and how much they are able to demonstrate in their final project.
“You’ve really got to hold back all your frustrations in order to teach,” Luster said.
“Everybody’s different. Everybody’s a different learner.”
Last Tuesday, they put aside the role of teacher and learned from Umpqua Community College music professor Jason Heald and Heald’s friend and former bandmate, Ron Stephens, a pastor from Toutle, Wash.
In the morning, the students broke up into groups to work on their guitar skills. Heald taught basic chords, while Stephens helped the more advanced students play “Sharp Dressed Man” by ZZ Top. He divided the guitar parts up, and, after a little work, they were playing together.
After a lunch break, the students came back together to learn how to play the drums.
Heald talked about the history of the modern drum set. Then he had the students work on coordination, tapping out rhythms with their hands and feet. He kept making it more complicated, and he explained concepts like backbeat as he went along.
Heald offered to teach a class after he met Days Creek Superintendent Laurie Newton.
“We were looking for some opportunities in South County,” he said. The college received a grant from the Lilja Family Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation to support cultural opportunities for South County high school students.
Heald hadn’t seen anything quite like Rock 101. In college, students can take rock history, and there’s a lot of emphasis on jazz performance, but mixing rock history and performance was new to him.
“I think this is also an interesting program at such a small school,” Heald said. It would be difficult for Days Creek to maintain a symphonic band or a large choir, but guitar can be taught to groups.
“You really can start to develop talents at different levels,” Heald said. “It’s a good place to start.”
Newton is a fan of classical music, and she hopes the interest in rock music will lead to a vocal program.
“I just thought it was a crime that there were no music classes,” she said, “and rock music is music.”
The class does address the darker side of rock culture. Trask is a counselor as well as a teacher, and she said part of the class is learning what not to do.
“It makes a good counterpoint to the messages we want to give them,” Newton said.
Parents haven’t been worried, Trask said. Some have even brought their instruments in and performed with their kids.
Ellis will work with students on performance this semester, and they’re planning to record themselves and have a concert in the spring.
He said when the class started, the teachers wondered how it would go. But if student interest is any indication, Rock 101 will be around for a long time.
• You can reach reporter Teresa Williams at 957-4230 or via e-mail at twilliams@newsreview.info.
“I think this is also an interesting program at such a small school,” Heald said. It would be difficult for Days Creek to maintain a symphonic band or a large choir, but guitar can be taught to groups.
“You really can start to develop talents at different levels,” Heald said. “It’s a good place to start.”
Newton is a fan of classical music, and she hopes the interest in rock music will lead to a vocal program.
“I just thought it was a crime that there were no music classes,” she said, “and rock music is music.”
The class does address the darker side of rock culture. Trask is a counselor as well as a teacher, and she said part of the class is learning what not to do.
“It makes a good counterpoint to the messages we want to give them,” Newton said.
Parents haven’t been worried, Trask said. Some have even brought their instruments in and performed with their kids.
Ellis will work with students on performance this semester, and they’re planning to record themselves and have a concert in the spring.
He said when the class started, the teachers wondered how it would go. But if student interest is any indication, Rock 101 will be around for a long time.
• You can reach reporter Teresa Williams at 957-4230 or via e-mail at twilliams@newsreview.info.
