Ready, steady, rock: Rocksteady Music School

Playing in a rock band would be a dream come true for many children. Never mind confidence, instruments, other band members, or ability to play or sing. Cue Rocksteady Music School, a fast-growing, 11-year-old company making dreams a reality … in ten minutes.

The school resides in a manor house in Liphook, surrounded by parkland and a lake, no less. From there, chief executive officer Scott Monks – with the company for more than five years following a television career which took in Channel 4 and management of music TV channels – speaks about Rocksteady's expansion.

Founding values

‘We featured in the “Financial Times 1000” in 2020 as one of the fastest-growing companies in Europe,’ he says, adding that the company has grown ten-fold in the five years pre-pandemic. ‘Growth has stalled over lockdown because we cannot sell into new schools but, over the years, we have matured our systems. We have the technology, a deep curriculum and embedded training. We also have an in-house academy and a sophisticated recruitment process.’

Rocksteady was founded by music teacher Mark Robinson, author of The Rocksteady Way, whose teaching method is entirely child-led.

‘It was during lunch hours that he discovered how children wanted to learn music,’ says Monks. ‘He asked kids what they wanted to do, experimented, trialled a lot of things and, eventually, began teaching music in a band concept.

‘He understood children’s expectations. That sounds like common sense but, looking at music education, often it’s about the instrument or the music. Mark looked at a child, tried to understand [their] motivation and communication styles and combined those with playing in a band.

‘He also found that once a child was in a band, there was a peer dynamic where they were working as a team and, supporting each other, accelerating progress. It broke down barriers as children had fun from day one because they play music immediately. That is at the heart of our methodology.’

Removing hurdles

Monks claims it is possible to get a child playing their own music in ten minutes without backing tracks, using real instruments and, crucially, without prior experience.

‘Mark's philosophy was closer to learning a language,’ suggests Monks. ‘You don't have to read or write before you speak. Often, in music education, you go over a lot of hurdles before you are allowed to perform. But making everything child-led – that goes across things such as instrument skills, musicianship and performance, as well as the way we teach and the way we teach our teachers – means children are interested, have more fun, stick at it for longer and progress faster. After all, strumming on a bass is a lot more interesting if you are part of a band rather than strumming on your own to develop skills and, only then, being allowed into a band.’

This method of teaching does not detract from one-to-one tuition, according to Monks, who says children still crave that performance medium. ‘Our Rocksteady audience is 4- to 11-year-olds,’ he says. ‘Some kids will have no experience of music until Rocksteady comes along. It is important that they are given a positive experience and progress at their own pace.’

Monks mentions that one pupil, 17-year-old Seth Grey, made it into the final of Young Guitarist of the Year 2020, the only UK finalist, saying it was Rocksteady that launched his love of music and the guitar.

Complete inclusivity

Rocksteady works with schools based in England and Wales and pupils are offered tuition on electric guitars, bass guitars, electric drums, vocals and keyboards.

Monks’ positivity constantly bubbles over. ‘When I arrived, Mark and team had built up a lot of expertise,’ he says. ‘When I came here, I thought the product was absolutely amazing. I could not believe how every person I spoke to – staff, parents, kids – was passionate about Rocksteady. From a brand point of view, that is absolute gold dust.’

Monks is also proud of the company's inclusivity. No child in a mainstream school has been turned down, despite disabilities, communication problems, shyness, musical ability, or motivation. Even working with severely disabled children, the same instruments and approaches are used. 

One step ahead

The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has challenged Rocksteady. Since the company operates within schools during the school day, lockdown meant that the business effectively closed.

‘We made an early decision to prioritise children and staff over commercial concerns,’ said Monks. ‘One of the first things was to create a distance learning platform. Since we have an in-house development team, we were able to sort that in a matter of days. We have an army of musicians and, putting them together with our digital team, we turned round a content-rich offering.

‘We also made ourselves available at the earliest opportunity when schools went back in June. It was only a handful of schools then but, by the time most reopened in September, we were experts in what needed to be done. We created a back-to-school guide which clearly signposted government guidance over dealing with health and safety issues, so we made it super-easy.

‘Schools are under a lot of pressure with very little guidance and, often, zero notice of any changes. We had all the information ready for schools to undertake their risk assessments, making it easy for schools to invite us back.’

Monks was blown away by schools’ response to a survey that showed 100 per cent of headteachers saying that Rocksteady had a positive impact on pupils and 80 per cent saying the back-to-school information was excellent, the remainder saying it was ‘very good’.

Rock-y road

Pre-Covid, each Rocksteady school was awarded a free bursary space. This could be used for one child all year, or for a different pupil each term. Monks decided, in September, to extend the scheme, offering schools as many free bursary spaces as they wanted.

‘Some children had a good summer. The most disadvantaged did not,’ he says. ‘In that programme, we had 2,550 children learning Rocksteady each week and it was brilliant, especially as everyone was worrying about getting children back into normality. Originally, we did it for half a term, but we have let it run on as it is having such a massive impact. It did not generate revenue, but we took a balanced approach, asking what we were about.’

There was also the realisation that many schools do not have space for music, given the need for additional staff rooms, Covid isolation rooms and extra social distancing. That led Rocksteady to start Feel Good Fridays, a livestream covering the curriculum for Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils. It could be watched live or on catch up, with more than 2,000 schools taking part weekly.

The highly interactive lessons are taught by professional musicians covering topics such as pulse, texture, instrumentation and much more. The livestreams focus on popular chart songs and require no instruments or preparation time for teachers in order that children can join in. More than one class per school can join in and teachers can stream lessons to children learning remotely.

‘More than 200 schools joined in January alone,’ says Monks, ‘and we have opened up to all schools. It was just Rocksteady schools initially but, with schools struggling, we felt this was something we could do. The highest number of lessons delivered in one week on Feel Good Friday was 9,076.’ Another survey showed parents registering 100 per cent trust that Rocksteady delivers lessons safely in schools, with 90 per cent believing that the lessons help children adjust back to normal school activities.

Maintaining morale

Extensive efforts go into staff wellbeing, too. For anyone furloughed, online forums and social events were provided, along with video messages from Monks.

A total of 241 staff work at Rocksteady, mostly teachers on a full-time, permanent basis with full employment rights. There is a layer of line managers giving monthly feedback to teachers as well as a weekly contact session. There is also a framework of continuing professional development, based on an average of five minutes a day which, over a month, amounts to fairly extensive training.

‘In terms of individual instruments, we have a catalogue of over 300 skills which we teach our children, so they are continually progressing,’ says Monks. ‘While that is great, the real aim is to catch kids before someone tells them they are not musical. We try hard to do that.’

Sign your school up to Rocksteady Music School at www.rocksteadymusicschool.com