Growing up in Illinois, John Sacia played football, baseball and basketball, and participated in band.
His athletic pursuits were cut short when he was in a serious car crash his senior year of high school. Sports were out, and the only thing he had left was music.
“I always wanted to be in the military and fly fighter jets, too,” he said. “For a while, that didn’t come true. Music really saved me. I graduated with a degree in music education at Eastern Illinois University.”
Now he’s sharing his love of music as a School of Rock franchise owner in Tucson.
“I wanted to have a school like this,” said Sacia, a pilot in the Arizona Air National Guard. “I didn’t know School of Rock was so well structured. I entertained the idea and thought this was a perfect fit for me.
“This is the music school we always wanted growing up. That’s the reason I decided to ultimately invest in it. I believe in music education in general. School of Rock is an amazing structure.”
School of Rock’s music programs for kids are geared toward getting them on stage, while building strong musical proficiency.
“It gets students into groups, playing songs together as soon as possible,” he said. “The traditional approach to music education was like teaching someone a sport but never putting them on a team.
“At School of Rock, we get them on the team while they’re learning a sport.”
Children may attend School of Rock as long as they’re potty trained, he said. Early on, kids learn the fundamentals of music, hearing the different pitches and learning basic songs. They move forward from there.
Students can begin learning music in a group setting with the School’s Little Wing and Rookies programs (roughly ages 3 to 7). Additionally, students (typically ages 8 to 13 years old) can begin Rock 101 without any prior experience. The goal of this rock program is to quickly develop a basic competence on students’ chosen instruments before moving on to the Performance Program.
“My intent is very much to facilitate those opportunities for students to play together,” he said. “They’re playing songs together. We’re not playing ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb.’ We’re playing ‘Seven Nation Army’ (by the White Stripes), or songs by the Beatles. They’re playing these songs we hear on the radio.”
That primes the students to prepare for the School of Rock’s signature Performance Program for children ages 8 to 18.
Every four months, the students stage a concert in a local venue. Recently, School of Rock hosted a three-hour show with seven groups at Hotel Congress. Each act played two to eight songs, giving kids the chance to “find their musical journey,” he said. Set lists have included tracks by the Who, Green Day, Metallica and AC/DC.
“They feel that connectivity,” he added. “They’re speaking that language that we’re all speaking. It transcends traditional learning.”
School of Rock isn’t just for children; adults can take classes and perform, too. The adult and youth performance programs mirror one another, with one private lesson and one two-hour rehearsal every week.
His staff is just as passionate about music as the students.
“The staff is an amazing staff,” he said.
“I know how serious it is for a parent to entrust their student with any teacher, let alone one who has the capacity of influencing a child — negative or positive — by their experience with music. That’s a big deal. It’s a huge honor to be able to teach these children.
“We don’t take that lightly at all. Us having the right staff, a cohesive staff and a positive staff is probably my No. 1 goal, other than student safety.”
Bringing together adults and children gives School of Rock its family atmosphere. That’s the vibe Sacia’s always wanted.
“We’re not trying to make the next ‘Voice’ star, but instead to help students enjoy the art of making music,” he said. “School of Rock has a saying, ‘We don’t teach music to put on shows. We put on shows to teach music.’”
Sacia said it’s “amazing” to watch the children transform. He cited a 7-year-old boy who was so shy he wouldn’t look anyone in the eye. Now, he struts around like a little rock star.
“That’s what the school facilitates, and I do want it to be Tucson’s School of Rock. What’s nice about the company is, yeah, it’s a franchise, but each school gets to be its own thing.
“It’s up to the students to give the school personality. The schools become their own entity. However, School of Rock Tucson will always be a growing passionate community dedicated to enriching lives through performance-based music education.”
School of Rock Tucson
6586 E. Grant Road, Tucson
1-833-887-7625
https://bit.ly/SchoolofRockTucson
This article appears in Feb 16-22, 2024.