New music course at Prince George Secondary will rock around the clock

The Polars will soon be rocking some killer solos in the classroom.

School District 57 has approved of a new course at Prince George Secondary School called School of Rock 11 put forward by music teacher Steve Baker.

.@PGSS_Polars teacher Steve Baker talks new #SchoolOfRock class; would be student-driven, can decide what they'd like to learn @mypgnow pic.twitter.com/2mpbtcYlaR

— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) February 1, 2017

He says it’ll be a great way to challenge creativity.

“I’ve never been able to offer a course where I could bring singers in with the musicians; we just don’t have a class that works that way. So they’d have to be taking a choral class or a band class; this will bring it all together.”

The School Board voted unanimously on the motion Tuesday night and Baker believes the course will enhance the PGSS music department as a whole.

Students will have the freedom to write and record original songs and play whatever music they want to.

“So if they want to play punk rock, they can play punk rock; if they want to play country, they can play country; if they want to play blues, they can go right ahead. I think there’s limitless possibilities there and it’s just a matter of seeing what the kids want to do and we’ll go from there.”

.@PGSS_Polars music teacher Steve Baker believes there'll be no problem getting 25-30 students to sign up for #SchoolOfRock course @mypgnow pic.twitter.com/6dwmIiKTsS

— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) February 1, 2017

He also hopes the course will open up doors to students outside of the traditional band class.

“This gives another opportunity for students who maybe play an instrument, but don’t have the opportunity to perform with a bunch of other kids. It brings them together; it’s a universal language playing music, it gives them a chance to express themselves in other ways.”

Baker says School of Rock 11 is based off a similar program offered at Terry Fox Secondary in Coquitlam for the last 15 years.

Students enrolled in the class will be able to put those credits towards graduation; the guitars are expected to rock the airwaves for the upcoming 2017-18 school year.