Here’s what you’ll learn in this blog post:
- If your child is ready to perform
- Why we charge for concert tickets
- Where to buy tickets
- What to expect on concert day
How do we know if our child/teen is ready for the big stage?
Here’s our take on “performance readiness” for all of our students: if your rock stars want to be in the big shows they should first attend at least TWO open mic events to dip their toes in the performance experience slowly.
We host open mics every session at Hurley’s Grill in Stittsville to allow our younger and less experienced students an opportunity to have an audience and see how it feels to really perform, but at a much smaller venue and with lots less pressure than at the big concerts in January and June.
We are big fans of encouraging bravery – even for newer students who haven’t had many lessons yet. However, we also usually don’t push performing at our bigger shows until the kids have had at least one or more years of lessons. Having said that, many students are ready sooner and in such cases they are absolutely welcome to join the show.
Why don’t you ask your rock star to try performing at our next open mic event? We post a reminder and always create an event page on Facebook for all our school activities/shows. There is also a registration form on our website to sign up for our open mics. Oh, and our open mic events are always FREE and everyone is welcome to attend, even if they don’t want to perform.
A couple of things every student needs to know before signing up for open mic events: all singers should be able to sing at least one full song with a karaoke track (no vocals on it) and must know all the words by heart as there is no monitor with lyrics like we have at lessons. They must also bring their own backing track to all the open mic shows (a YouTube karaoke music track on a phone or MP3 player). At our big concerts we take care of all the backing tracks but at open mics the kids are responsible to bring what they need to accompany themselves.
Our concerts and open mic shows are a great opportunity for the newer students to also watch some of our more experienced performers, as many of them do attend most of our events to get more experience and work on their performance skills.
If your rock star decides not to perform at our big rock concerts in January or June that’s totally OK. We do hope they will all come to watch the show and see what it’s all about and be inspired to try it next time. Most first year students are quite happy to just be in the audience for the big shows but some just can’t wait to get up there and enjoy the spotlight.
Why we charge for tickets at the 2 BIG SHOWS
Many families have been asking us why they have to pay for concert tickets. That’s a great question! Here’s why:
A lot of work goes into our two annual rock shows in January and June. We book the venue 6 months in advance. The $10 ticket cost (per adult over 18, all kids and teens are FREE) covers the following:
- The rental of the concert space,
- 40 chair rentals for our students,
- The cost of the sound & lights technician for 3-4 hours,
- The cost of staff to take tickets at the door and to sell U-Rock merchandise (proceeds from sales are often donated to charitable causes),
- The cost of hiring a professional photographer to shoot great pictures of your stars in action on stage, bonus: the images are then offered to all families for FREE,
- The cost of designing and printing concert programs,
- Other miscellaneous costs associated with putting on a great rock show.
In June, the modest ticket fee also covers the cost of all our framed MARS awards and special gifts for our students who’ve attained their 5-year achievement of excellence certificate at their lessons that year.
Unlike most schools we do not make ANY profit from our shows. All proceeds from our ticket sales go into the U-Rock concerts fund and anything left over is then put into our Music Rox Fund that provides free lessons to 2 students of lesser means every summer.
So, if you are wondering why we ask for a $10 per adult ticket fee, now you know. We fully appreciate that you pay for lessons all year long and we try our very best to keep our costs for the big concerts very reasonable.
There is no registration required for our big shows. If your child was chosen by their teacher, or has asked to perform, they are automatically in the program if they have been assigned a song.
IMPORTANT:
All families whose children are performing MUST buy tickets no less than one week in advance of the show date. This allows us to ensure that our printed programs, edited music tracks and our rock stars’ performance line up for the big day are all ready and correct. This process takes time and that’s why we don’t sell any tickets at the door. Tickets are bought online only and we receive a notice from Eventbright for every family who has pre-purchased their tickets.
Thank you to all our families who have already bought their tickets, for everyone else:
Tickets are available one month in advance of both shows at:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/u-rock
What to expect on concert day:
- The Brass Monkey is located at 250 Greenbank Rd., Nepean, ON K2H 8X4. It is located on the left side of Greenbank, in a mini mall, The Monkey is in the middle of the righthand section of the mall, next to Pet Valu. NOTE: It is a basement venue, so it is not accessible (stairs). It takes about 15-20 minutes to get there from Stittsville, depending on traffic.
- Please arrive with your tickets no sooner than 1:30pm but no later than 1:45pm. You will present a copy of your tickets on your phone (or printed copy) upon arrival and get your hand stamped.
- The Crushers BAND STUDENTS ONLY: must arrive for sound check at 1pm.
- Your tickets will be taken at the door and then go into a draw for a special family movie pass!
- Seating is first come first served. There are 40 chairs set up (for students only) at the front of the stage.
- Please make sure your rock star has everything they need before they go on stage. You will receive a concert program at the door, which shows exactly when your child will perform in the show.
- Please be quiet during all performances – the students work hard and we expect all families to watch and listen.
- If you want to shoot video that’s fine, please just make sure you aren’t in the way of our pro photographer.
- Have your child go up to the right side of the stage (where Brian will be controlling the computer for all the singers’ backing tracks) they should come up TWO students before them in the program, so that they are ready by the stage in case there are any no-shows.
- Drums, keyboard and guitar amplifiers will already be set up on stage, so musicians only need to bring their instruments with them, along with their own drum sticks, guitar strap, picks, capos, tuners, and sheet music (if needed).
- If your child/teen needs to get their guitar or ukulele tuned please find Noah at the front entrance (he will be taking tickets) and he will happily check your tuning. Brian is super busy setting up the show, so Noah is your go-to guy.
- NOTE: all singers – make sure you have a water bottle with you. NO TRACKS are required from parents at the big concerts; we prepare all the edited tracks in advance so that the show runs smoothly.
- Once you’re up on stage, we will introduce you, then just signal to Cathy or Brian that you are ready to start. We will cue up your music or help you set up on stage (if need be).
- HAVE FUN! ☺
We can hardly wait for the next show!
Cathy, Brian, Noah, Samantha & Grace