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Students learn to rock in Southlake
Bill Conrad/Staff Photo. Cory Helms, left, and Connor Musch play guitar at For Those About to Rock School in Southlake. Helms is a member of The Polyphonic Spree and an instructor at the school.
By Bill Conrad,
bconrad@acnpapers.com
Mike Mroz never planned on being a music teacher. When Mroz moved to Southlake in 2001, his main musical goal was to play AC/DC music with his friends.
Less than a decade later, Mroz is the owner of two local music schools and the lead guitarist for Back in Black, an AC/DC tribute band which has toured around the country.
Mroz said that he had an epiphany while teaching children how to play guitar.
“I realized that I really enjoyed teaching,” he said. “I always thought it would be fun to own my own business and this felt like a really good idea. I looked around and found this location and we opened up shop at the beginning of 2005.”
Mroz’s two schools, called For Those About to Rock School, are located in Southlake and Plano. The Southlake school is at the intersection of Carroll Avenue and State Highway 114, across the highway from Southlake Town Square. The Plano school is at the intersection of Plano Parkway and Preston Road.
The school offers lessons in guitar, drums, bass guitar, vocals and keyboards. Students are taught the fundamentals of the instruments, and then placed into bands. Every three to four months, the students perform around Dallas. Mroz said the next show is on the main stage of the Dallas House of Blues on Oct. 24. He said all of the bands at the two schools will play one-to-two songs during the concert.
“We keep it personal,” he said. “Even though it is nice to open up kids to different bands, we want the kids to come in here and play the music they like. When I was taking lessons I wanted to play KISS and Cheap Trick, but my instructor wanted me to play The Doors. That didn’t motivate me to learn. When the bands get together, the bands choose their own songs and play what they want to play.”
One of the instructors that teaches at the Southlake school is Cory Helms, a local Dallas musician who plays guitar for The Polyphonic Spree.
“I met Mike through a mutual friend right as he was opening the business,” Helms said. “I started working here one day a week and now have a full schedule and work here full time. I love to help mold guitar players. Once you show them some tricks on music theory and how it applies to the songs they like, it makes them feel like they have the keys to universe. When you have that understanding of music, you can start to write your own songs.”
One of Helms’ students is 16-year-old Connor Musch. Musch said even though he had taken lessons prior to enrolling at For Those About to Rock School three years ago, the school has made him a much better guitar player.
“This school is pretty amazing. This is the best thing that has happened to me musically. Before I came here, playing guitar was a very singular activity. I have met a lot of people here. This is an amazing community.”
Musch said he wants to make a living in music after he graduates high school. He is currently in a local heavy metal band called Breaking Gravity, which is made up exclusively of current or former students at the Southlake school.
Students like Musch come to the school to learn music, but Mroz said the school has taught students much more than that.
“I started this school because I love music and it is fun to teach kids,” Mroz said. “Without sounding corny, it is great to see the kids grow up and develop confidence and self esteem. They get a little swagger to their walk. Parents have told me that the music has also helped the kids with their grades in school.”
In addition to the October show at the House of Blues, students from the school will perform Sept. 25 at Sambuca 360 in Plano.
While Mroz’s teaching business has taken off, his AC/DC tribute band is also flourishing. The band has toured around the United States and Canada and signed a touring deal with Live Nation. The band also will play at GrapeFest this year, a concert which will feature students from For Those About to Rock School on several songs.
Mroz is holding two open houses for people interested in enrolling in the school. The Southlake campus will host an open house Sept. 12 from 1 to 5 p.m., while the Plano campus’ is scheduled for Sept. 25 from 12 to 4 p.m. For information on the school, visit www.forthoseabouttorockschool.com.
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