Fledgling rockers thanking the Academy

On a recent Monday night, 14-year-old Kennedy Heidl stepped to a studio microphone and started singing, giving spunky teenage enthusiasm to Stone Temple Pilots’ “Plush.”

In the next room, separated by soundproof glass, her band mates handled the driving rhythm of the ’90s alt-rock hit. Forrest Calland, 43, held down the bass, while his 11-year-old son, Will, hammered the drums. Sarah Hatley, 16, filled in melody on the keyboards.

The band doesn’t have a name yet, as the musicians have been together only for a few weeks. They’re part of the first class of the Charlottesville Rock Academy, a new music school operating out of The Sound recording studio.

The eight-week band camp with distortion gives aspiring musicians ages 10 and older a chance to experience the best parts of the rock ’n’ roll dream.

Over two months at weekly class sessions, the students learn songs together, rehearse, record their material using world-class studio equipment and finally play a show for friends and family at The Sound’s upstairs concert hall.

New rockers also leave the class with a completely mixed and mastered CD of their recorded songs.

The Callands have wanted something like this to come to the area since seeing Jack Black’s blockbuster film “School of Rock.”

“We were hoping to find something like this after seeing the movie,” said Forrest Calland, a trauma surgeon at the University of Virginia Medical Center. “We’ve been playing music together at home, but we really needed a coach to teach us how to be a band.”

The Sound was opened this past summer by partners and local musicians James McLaughlin and Mark Graham in the space formerly occupied by the defunct multimillion-dollar Crystalphonic Studios, located in the old Monticello Dairy building.

While they inherited a sonic infrastructure that could please music royalty and outfitted it with equipment to match, McLaughlin and Graham want to make sure their studio is accessible to musicians of all levels and abilities. Creating the Rock Academy was a logical first step.

“We’re trying to make this a community-oriented music facility,” said McLaughlin. “I’m a musician, and I wish I had something like this when I was growing up. In a short time I’ve watched these students form a real band bond. That goes beyond the regular music education experience.”

In addition to providing instruction, McLaughlin and Graham bring in other accomplished local musicians to sit in with the budding bands.

After the new group finished a third take on the Raconteurs’ “Steady As She Goes” with help from ax man Ian Lawlor on guitar, they wrap it up for the day.

Still sitting behind the studio’s elaborate soundboard, Graham offered a final pep talk: “Next week we’re doing ‘Baba O’Riley,’ so practice hard, and you still need to come up with a name for your band.”

Will Calland quickly piped in, “How ’bout Rotting Carcass of a Whale?”

Graham laughed and added, “Decisions like this are what being in a band is all about.”

rock on

Want to rock? The Charlottesville Rock Academy runs in eight-week, hour-long sessions on Monday and Tuesday nights. To enroll, visit http://www.charlottesvillerockacademy.com or call 293-5948.