Red Bank Rockers Teaching Tomorrow's Rockstars Today

There’s something childish in rock n roll.  Despite the intellectual intentions of rock’s most lofty lyrics and complicated orchestrations, the basis, the beginning, the essence of rock is childlike.  It’s loud, excessive self-expressiveness to the beat of human inertia. 

Check out a toddler rocking to a rhythm, of any sound, from actual music to the dishwasher noise.  Watch the tantrum…how it builds, explodes, drives you crazy and then winds down into a rhythmic howl.  Catch the action on a kid when she doesn’t care what anyone thinks about how she walks, what she wears, when she explodes into laughter or song or dance. 

It’s the beat.  It’s the emotion.  It’s the exessiveness.  And it’s the exhibitionist.  It is humorously true that there is some direct connection between the rocker and the child.  So when Sherri Ehrlich, musician, teacher and owner of Honey Child Music in Red Bank, mentioned that she had created a new music program at her studio that taught kids how to rock, it made total sense.

Red Bank Rockers, the newest offering from Ehrlich’s little blue and yellow gingerbread house of music, offers kids 10 weeks of instruction in the musical, and even mechanical, ways and means of rock music.  The program is designed to help kids develop a sense and understanding of rhythm, tempo, melody and chords. 

Less emblematic of the childhood disposition , but certainly necessary, Rockers also strongly stresses the need for children to play well with others.  The mission is for students to collectively develop, rehearse and record a song by the end of the session.  Ehrlich explains that the kids, or jammers as she refers to them as, will leave the program with a “better understanding of music, but also team work.” 

Rockers was created and developed by Ehrlich, a staple in the Red Bank musical instruction community, and Dan Lotito, bass player for Brian Kirk and Jirks.  Lotito said the collaboration with Ehrlich was “totally random.”  He answered a Craigslist advertisement that called for dancers and only incidentally sought out musicians.  “I wasn’t even going to call,” he said, “but I did and Sherri suggested I come down and see what Honey Child is all about.” 

That was October 2010.  Less than 3 months later the duo had created and developed a full concept and website.  Today, Ehrlich and Lotito are enjoying a full class of students in their first run at rock instruction. 

The day that I was there, some five moppy haired boys, all under ten, unwound their need to thump, jump, sing out, scream loud, swagger and shake.  For the record there was some pining and whining as well.  Ehrlich apologized and explained that it’s the nature of the age, but of course it’s understandable and even expected that a class for future rockstars might include moments of crybaby crocodile tears.  For now I wanna hold your hand is close enough at I want my mommy. 

Lotito, who holds both a bachelors degree and a masters in music education, said kids are kids.  “There’s a full range of behaviors that you have to expect whenever you’re working with them,” he said.  What was shocking to Lotito was how often the students surprise him with their innate sense of rhythm and ability to quickly absorb rock concepts.  Lotito cited a kindergarten drummer named Preston.  “He obviously couldn’t have had much or any prior experience behind a drum kit, but suddenly he showed promise and we’re talking five years old.” 

The class of five practiced, played and recorded a drum track for a song that Ehrlich and Lotito are creating with their students.  “This is all student guided,” Lotito said of the music that is the hook for the session, now in its fourth week, “the subject matter, the ideas are all theirs.”  Lotito then is taking his deeper understanding of the construction and computerization of music and crunching their free-forming, brain-storming.

By the end of class, the young rockers had recorded a drum track, a stamping feet track and a vocal track that included the crunching and nibbling sound of a dinosaur.  When the class is made up of mainly little boys, the subject matter tends to be more Tyrannosaurus Rex and less love on the rocks. 

“We’re not promising that at the end of 10 weeks that these kids are going to be rockstars, but we are giving them an opportunity to express themselves with music,” Lotito said, “and that’s the start.  To rock, it’s important to be who you are and we offer children the chance to come break out and find themselves in a totally fun and non-judgmental environment.” 

Red Bank Rockers offers instruction to all kids ages 4-17, with segments broken up to focus different age groups on different aspects of rock music creation.  Instruments are available on-sight, but students are welcome to bring their own as well.   Ehrlich is arranging a venue for a live performance of her Rocker students at the close of the ten weeks.

For more information regarding Red Bank Rockers find them on the web at: www.redbankrockers.com.  For a full listing of classes and events at Honey Child Music go to: www.honeychildmusic.com.  To find out where Lotito and the Jirks are playing next check them out at: www.jirks.com