{"id":19490,"date":"2017-09-21T22:21:05","date_gmt":"2017-09-22T04:21:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=19490"},"modified":"2017-09-22T14:41:18","modified_gmt":"2017-09-22T20:41:18","slug":"at-this-school-students-learn-rudiments-of-rock-n-roll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2017\/09\/at-this-school-students-learn-rudiments-of-rock-n-roll\/","title":{"rendered":"At this school, students learn rudiments of rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"slides-19490\" class=\"navis-slideshow\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slide-nav\">\n\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"prev\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"next\"><\/a>\n\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slides_container\"><div id=\"19490-slide1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rock-School-Olivia-Rachel-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rock-School-Olivia-Rachel-1-of-1-771x528.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>At a Free Spirit Rock School rehearsal earlier this week, Olivia Tyrrell sings lead vocals while new student Rachel Larson Long adds a few harmonica licks. Click on the arrow at top right for more photos.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"19490-slide2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rock-School-Band2-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rock-School-Band2-1-of-1-771x469.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Involved in the practice were, from left, Stan Jonutis, guitar; Rachel Larson Long, harmonica; Olivia Tyrrell, vocals;  David Duke, guitar; Lee Hancock, keyboard; and Bill Dickman, drums.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"19490-slide3\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rock-School-Band4-1-of-1-771x462.jpg*771*462\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rock-School-Band4-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Here's another shot of the band with school founder Sharon Mulvehill in the background, on bass.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"19490-slide4\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rock-School-Dog-2-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rock-School-Dog-2-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Mulvehill's labradoodle, Mojo, rarely misses a practice.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"19490-slide5\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rock-School-Songs-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rock-School-Songs-1-of-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A song list keeps the band on track.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><script>jQuery( document ).ready( function() { loadSlideshow( 19490, 'https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2017\/09\/at-this-school-students-learn-rudiments-of-rock-n-roll\/', 5 ) } );<\/script>\n<p>Earlier this week, at a group lesson for students in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freespiritrockschool.com\/\">Free Spirit Rock School<\/a>, Sharon Mulvehill was sitting in on bass guitar.<\/p>\n<p>She normally plays a regular guitar, and she wasn\u2019t all that familiar with the bass line for the first song of the night, Bill Withers\u2019 \u201cLean on Me.\u201d Bill Dickman, the school\u2019s guitar teacher and musical director, who happened to be sitting in on drums, stopped the song and briefly, a little impatiently, told Mulvehill what she should be playing.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no discrimination here,\u201d Mulvehill said with a smile. \u201cEveryone gets yelled at.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yes, even Mulvehill, who founded Free Spirit Rock School a little more than a year ago.<\/p>\n<p>A specialist in family medicine at RiverStone Health in Billings, Mulvehill started the business to give people, no matter their skill level, a fun way to learn how to play rock, blues and soul music in a band setting.<\/p>\n<p>The school focuses on classic rock songs, teaching tunes by the likes Tom Petty, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Journey, Santana, Stevie Wonder and Jimi Hendrix.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe try to pick great songs that people can play a million times and still like,\u201d Dickman said.<\/p>\n<p>There are some teenagers in the school, but many of the students\u2019 musical backgrounds are similar to that of Mulvehill. She said she studied classical guitar in college in Texas, but then drifted away from music when she started medical school. She got married, had four children and a busy career.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"well\"><div class=\"dfad dfad_pos_1 dfad_first\" id=\"_ad_652\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/mjhWkW\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/201703_capeair_variable.jpg\" alt=\"CapreAir_Variable\" width=\"510\" height=\"180\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18069\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>She started at RiverStone Health in 2005, spent eight years here and then went back to Texas. Three years ago, she said, her marriage dissolved and she was in the process of selling her house and many of her belongings, which included three guitars.<\/p>\n<p>She was going to sell them too, she said, but then \u201cI just picked one up and haven\u2019t looked back since.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Houston, she enrolled in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.schoolofrock.com\/\">School of Rock<\/a>, the performance-based program that has locations all over the world. Mulvehill enjoyed the experience, and when she moved back to Billings two years ago, she started thinking of offering something similar here.<\/p>\n<p>She considered obtaining a School of Rock franchise, but decided she wanted more flexibility, the freedom to take the School of Rock concept and develop it in her own way. She was taking classical guitar lessons from Dickman at the time and began talking about her plans, hoping to bring him on as the guitar teacher and musical director.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe gave up saying \u2018no\u2019 and we started,\u201d Mulvehill said, launching in the summer of 2016. Other teachers signed on, all of them <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freespiritrockschool.com\/our-teachers\">degreed professionals<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019re really the best in the business,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<h5>ArtWalk performance on tap<\/h5>\n<p>The Free Spirit Rock School band will perform at the next ArtWalk, on Friday, Oct. 6, at the MoAv Coffee House, 2501 Montana Ave., from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>School founder Sharon Mulvehill said the band will play three sets, the first two with students and several teachers, and the third set with all teachers on hand and any students who feel up to joining in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>They include Robin Martinez, bass instructor; Brad Edwards, drums and percussion; Donna Choriki Ayers, vocals; and Lee Hancock, keyboards and piano.<\/p>\n<p>Dickman will soon be moving to Wisconsin and will be replaced as guitar teacher by another RiverStone Health doctor, Andy Owenreay. Bass instructor Martinez, who also plays with the Billings Symphony, will take over as musical director.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone who enrolls in Free Spirit Rock School is strongly encouraged to take private lessons as well, either with the school staff or teachers of their choice. Then they get together once a week for a group practice, usually preparing for their next public performance.<\/p>\n<p>With about 15 students in the school at present, there have been two to three group practice nights a week, to keep the numbers manageable. The sessions are held in the basement of Mulvehill\u2019s house in north-central Billings, where a drum set, keyboard, music stands, microphones, cables and a control board await the students.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19496\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-19496 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rock-School-Sharon1-1-of-1.jpg\" alt=\"Sharon\" width=\"336\" height=\"248\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">At the practice session, school founder Sharon Mulvehill throws an encouraging smile to another musician.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>They\u2019ve played at private parties, an ArtWalk event in downtown Billings and once at the Shrine Auditorium for United Way \u2014 and an audience of 600 people. They\u2019ve also performed at Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co. and the Thirsty Street Brewery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe packed Thirsty\u2019s,\u201d Mulvehill said. \u201cIt\u2019s the busiest they\u2019ve ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All their shows are family-friendly, since they have teens in the band and lots of young siblings in the audience. They don\u2019t play at bars, Mulvehill said, but the breweries are generally welcoming of kids and dogs, so she doesn\u2019t mind playing those venues.<\/p>\n<p>Mulvehill also offers \u201cBeer Guitar\u201d classes every Friday from 6 to 7 p.m. at Thirsty Street. For $12, participants get a quick guitar lesson \u2014 two- and three-chord classics only \u2014 and a pint of beer. The weekly classes at Mulvehill\u2019s house are $25 a session.<\/p>\n<p>At the practice session earlier this week, the oldest student was Stan Jonutis, 66, a multi-instrumentalist and guitar collector who never really played rock music before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a pleasure,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s great to play with people who really know what they\u2019re doing. If it doesn\u2019t sound right, it\u2019s probably me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The youngest student was 14-year-old Olivia Tyrrell, a freshman at Billings West High School. She said her mother works with Mulvehill and she was actually recruited because of her background as a singer with school and community choirs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey needed me to sing \u2018Don\u2019t Stop Believing,\u2019\u201d she explained. \u201cThey had a guy, but he couldn\u2019t hit the high notes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said she had never sung rock music anywhere but in her car before joining the school, and it\u2019s been a blast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really cool,\u201d she said. \u201cIt really helps me develop confidence and stage presence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this week, at a group lesson for students in the Free Spirit Rock School, Sharon Mulvehill was sitting in on bass guitar. She normally plays a regular guitar, and she wasn\u2019t all that familiar with the bass line for the first song of the night, Bill Withers\u2019 \u201cLean on Me.\u201d Bill Dickman, the school\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,17,18],"tags":[580,6290,727,6294,6288,6293,981,6292,6291,6289],"class_list":["post-19490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-billings","category-culture","category-diversions","tag-artwalk","tag-bill-dickman","tag-brad-edwards","tag-donno-choriki-ayers","tag-free-spirit-rock-school","tag-lee-hancock","tag-riverstone-health","tag-robin-martinez","tag-school-of-rock","tag-sharon-mulvehill","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19490"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19508,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19490\/revisions\/19508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}