BRADENTON, FL — School of Rock, a national company that focuses on performance-based music education, celebrates the grand opening of its new school in Bradenton, 8741 State Road 70, Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m.
Along with live performances, the event will offer music clinics, school tours, giveaways, a rock star costume contest and more.
The performance-based school teaches music lessons — including bass, guitar, singing, drum and piano — to students of all ages. Drawing from all styles of rock and roll, School of Rock students learn theory and techniques via songs from legendary artists such as Aretha Franklin, Lenny Kravitz and Led Zeppelin.
Click Here: custom stamp die mould
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
School of Rock Lakewood Ranch is owned by Gary Falcon, a music manager with 30 years of experience in the music industry, and his wife, Kelley Falcon, a singer and former talent producer for televised music awards shows in Nashville.
“We decided to retire and come to Florida, but we don’t know how to retire,” Gary told Patch.
Their 23-year-old daughter, Lena Falcon, a former culinary arts student, will also help them with the business.
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
“It’s a dream come true for us to work as a family. Hopefully, one day, when we decide to retire, we can pass it on to her,” he said.
Originally from northern California, Gary learned at an early age that he’s “not a performer and not a musician” after not connecting with his piano lessons, he said. “At 10 years old, I had such a bad experience with a piano teacher trying to force feed 300 dead geniuses down my throat, you know, like Beethoven, that I didn’t get it. I decided I was not a musician.”
This is part of why the School of Rock’s approach to teaching music speaks to him.
“Basically, what we do is take popular rock and roll music, funk, R&B or whatever your flavor is, and start by showing students how to play a song – the whole song,” he said. “Once they’re inspired and realize they can play music they love, we start to teach them the theory and it’s suddenly relevant. The theory is always in the background but very subtly. Like when my daughter was a baby, she wouldn’t eat her vegetables, so I’d blend up carrots and put them in her mac and cheese.”
Working in the music industry, he was the personal manager for clients that included Travis Tritt, Michael Peterson, and the writing team of Gary Barker and Frank Myers, known for hits like “I Swear” and “I Cross My Heart.” He also tour managed musicians ranging from Tritt to Lynyrd Skynyrd.
In 2004, Gary Falon retired from the music industry to focus on raising his daughter.
“But I got bored and started working for my brother’s business,” a shutter and window covering company in northern California, he said. “We expanded the company tremendously while I was there.”
After a decade working with his brother, he was asked by his former partner in the music management business to help open a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Philadelphia, which he operated for 18 years.
“We wanted to help young people get off heroin,” Gary said. “It was just heartbreaking.”
Through all his varied experiences over the decades, he learned two things.
“What I’ve found out is my love is music and always was. I figured if I wasn’t a musician, I could work with musicians,” he said.
Gary also is drawn to empowering and uplifting people.
“After my experience in Philadelphia, I realized if we’re going to make a difference, we have to start earlier,” Gary said. “Music is a beautiful gateway to open people’s worlds. We looked for something to do that would be meaningful and found the School of Rock.”
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.