2025 Summer School at Capital High School

School of Rock YouTube Playlist (All the class video resources are here)

The first video below is a good overview of the content. The class is hands-on, but we move through topics referenced in the video as ‘rooms’. Essentially, each hour of each day has a theme like audio production, songwriting, instrument practice, etc.

“Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence.”

– Author Unknown

Summer School Schedule

  • June 23 – July 15, no school July 3 & 4
  • Monday – Friday 8 AM – 3 PM at Capital High School (in room F1 off the Commons)

Summer School Application Process

2025 SOR Summer School ApplicationDownload

Course Description

No experience is necessary. In this program, you can play an electric guitar, bass, or drum set, plug it into a computer, play, record, and collaborate with other students. You can learn how to play guitar, use a MIDI controller, use a DAW (digital audio workstation – Soundtrap.com), record music, publish music, learn some music history, and even learn a little about music theory with many resources, including HookTheory.com, to compose your own music. Yes! All this in a supportive, collaborative learning environment.

Instructors

  • Mr. Le Duc, sleduc@osd.wednet.edu
  • Mr. Disston, gdisston@osd.wednet.edu

Essential Resources for 2025

  • Edublogs.org
    • Students create a blog, copy and paste the daily activities into a new blog post, follow directions, complete the activities in the post, and publish to earn credit
  • Soundtrap.com
  • Hooktheory.com
    • Students join the class group with the sign-up code: mwgelpzd
    • Students experiment with song structure and music theory throughout the course
  • MusicWill.org
    • Music Will has training resources for the instruments we provide. The online resources are free, and students can continue to access them after the course is over
  • Provided Instruments and Equipment
    • Students work with an electric guitar, electric bass, electronic drumset, ukulele, or keyboard throughout the course
    • Vocalists will have access to microphones and the recording studio
    • Yes, students can work with more than one instrument!

Slideshow Introduction

Syllabus and Course Resources

SOR Playlist (For Analysis)

Schedule

‘Rooms’ Concept for Time Management

2025 Student Blogs

(Guitarists) Class Quizlet

Crash Landing Funk

Mr. Disston’s Crash Landing Funk Song Link

Tools

Guitar and Music Theory

Composition Elements

Compose, record, mix, and master a song with these elements by the end of the course:

First Day Schedule

Happiness, Career, and College Preparedness

https://capitalcomtech.info/2017/03/26/create-successful-teams/

  • “There are three factors that the science shows lead to better performance, not to mention personal satisfaction: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose” – Daniel Pink

Safety

  • Participate in the Netsmartz.org Internet safety discussion about being safe online
  • Learn hearing safety in the Listen Smart video

Copyright

Portfolio and Being Organized

  • Review Edublogs.org blog account and email Mr. Le Duc your Edublogs address, sleduc@osd.wednet.edu
  • Explore options for an About Me page
  • Review Trusted Systems – use it daily

Pitching and Presenting

Teams

  • Week two and three production (band) will be in teams of up to 4, with students taking on various creative and production roles

The Power of Project-Based Learning

Grading Projects and Points

Self-Authored Projects

  • Technical and creative media skills are developed through project work, working toward mastery
  • Projects are composed of a plan and a product
  • Students produce projects throughout the course
  • Students present the product on the last day of the course

Skills Development Projects

  • Skills development is embedded into each project with emphasis on the 21st Century World of Work core skills

Daily Work

  • Students will receive a daily grade for being on task with the daily work. Credit will be reduced for any conduct not contributing to an academic atmosphere, as detailed in the professionalism quotient rubric. Credit will not be granted if the student is absent, but the points can be made up upon return. Students are expected to work outside of class to make up missed work. Please refer to the online class schedule and Skyward for missing work and consult with the teacher for make-up work.

Self Evaluation

  • Students will publish blog entries detailing their work on projects
  • Included in the entry will be a paragraph highlighting what was done and learned
  • Sample Student Evaluation

Journal as part of the Portfolio

  • Students will maintain a learning journal at Edublogs.org
  • The journal details what was done and learned
  • Sample journal entry

Leadership

  • Students will contribute to the learning community in a meaningful way
  • 21st Century Skills will be demonstrated daily

Atomic Habits and Struthless Reset

The Bridge Music Project

Resources

The School of Rock framework is designed with information from numerous industry and professional sources, including:

  • Eargle, John (2005). The Microphone Handbook. Focal Press; Second Edition.
  • Goodall, Howard (2006-11-18). How Music Works Series. Channel 4, BBC.
  • Hass, Jeffrey, Gibson, John, and Warren, Alicyn (2016-06-29). http://www.indiana.edu/~emusic/ Center for Electronic and Computer Music. Indiana University.
  • Music & Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA) Standards, http://www.meiea.org/Journal/Vol.10/Tough-2010-MEIEA-Journal-Vol-10-No-1-p149.pdf
  • Owsinski, Bobby (2013-05-01). The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook, Second Edition. Course Technology PTR.
  • Owsinski, Bobby (2013-09-30). The Recording Engineer’s Handbook. Course Technology PTR.
  • Plummer, Mary (2014-07-09). Apple Pro Training Series: GarageBand. Pearson Education.
  • Powell, John (2010-11-03). How Music Works: The Science & Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond. Little, Brown & Company.
  • Randlette, Peter, (2016-06-29). Instructor of Digital Media, Sound Design, Media Technology. Evergreen State College.
  • Weiss, Matthen, (2014-09-10). The Pro Audio Files http://theproaudiofiles.com/teaching-music-production/

A few things for you to start before class

Here is our pre-class to-do list:

  1. Complete the personality card exercise (75 minutes):
  2. Create an account at Edublogs.org.  You will be using your blog to ‘turn in’ student work.
  3. Create an account at HookTheory.com
  4. Create an account at Soundtrap.com
    • Our class code: Presented in class