Maple Valley Dace’s Rock ‘n’ More to go online with virtual music lessons

Dace’s Rock ‘n’ More is going virtual with online music lessons.

Dace’s Rock ‘n’ More is going virtual.

Music lessons will be offered online as will a library of instructional videos, both short stand alone clips on specific techniques or riffs as well as sequential, comprehensive series plus small class lessons using video chat services.

Founder of the non-profit music school Dace Anderson has produced a handful of videos for its website, www.rocknmore.org, while the first series which covers the first month of guitar lessons, will be online in December.

“Everything is more online for one thing,” Anderson said. “We didn’t want to be the only business that didn’t have a good presence online.”

Add to that the existence of a variety of useful video lessons online, Anderson said, he didn’t want to lose business at either location in Maple Valley or Redmond.

Still, while there is a fair amount of video lessons out there, Anderson believes the teachers at Rock ‘n’ More could take it a step further, particularly with the comprehensive series of videos.

“We want to give people lessons that are higher quality than what we’ve seen online,” Anderson said. “This is an opportunity for us to get in on the ground floor and make higher quality videos.”

In essence, this will allow the school to offer a third location, a virtual school, so to speak with the added benefit of two brick and mortar locations for in-person help or support.

“We’re covering all our bases,” Anderson said. “If they’re close and they want to come here, or if they’re not close, then they can do individualized lessons online via Skype or FaceTime.”

To start with, there’s eight video lessons online that Anderson has recorded with the help of Arielle Young, a music teacher who helps Anderson with day-to-day running of the music school. That’s just the beginning, though, as the plan is to offer a large category of short clips. Those videos are free but Anderson said the catalogue may eventually be offered as a subscription service.

Then there is the series concept. First up is, “Your First Month of Lessons.” It will consist of exercises and videos of Anderson demonstrating those exercises, all the same lessons a student would get during the first month of learning guitar in person with Anderson.

Anderson said there are a number of larger subjects which could be covered in a video lesson series. Those will be produced and made available over the coming months. That offering will also set Rock ‘n’ More apart.

“You can’t find anything like that right now,” Anderson said. “The big idea is to be able to cover people whether they want to do in person or private or class lessons or online private or class lessons. Or if people just want to go online and mess around and learn different things. We want to have a business that caters to every different learning style, that has something for everybody.”

There are some music schools, like Berklee College of Music in Ohio, which offers online courses but they’re college level and, Anderson said, “pretty dry.”

Anderson explained that the staff at Rock ‘n’ More wants to make the videos more entertaining than watching a guy sitting in his bedroom with a back drop of bare white walls while instructing on music technique in a monotone voice.

“I know exactly what I want to do,” Anderson said. “It would be nice to get a bunch of money to do it right. There’s nothing out there that really caters to the hobbyist.”

Anderson said he is considering applying for grants to fund the project further so his vision of virtual music school in the Rock ‘n’ More mold of fun, accessible and laid back can become reality.

Another thing that would help is if people who are interested pre-ordered the first series online. It’s $81 cheaper than a month of in-person lessons, Anderson said, which is ideal for anyone who wants to try it out without as much of an investment while having the option of taking lessons when it fits into their schedules.

“We’ll hopefully sell enough of these to get started on the next phase,” Anderson said. “Any time people can help us out, because we’re a non-profit, it goes back into the community.”