Newcastle rock-star to offer free lessons to keyworkers and their children this Christmas
David "Greenie" Green has toured the world and recorded with an array of international artists.
An online tutoring academy featuring an all-star cast of teachers has today launched in a bid to keep the world's budding musicians creative and inspired this winter.
Founded by the acclaimed UK drummer David “Greenie” Green, London's RockAcad has brought together some of the very best recording and session musicians in the country, who continue to record and produce with a heavyweight list of names that includes The Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart, Sam Fender, Boy George, James Arthur and Selena Gomez.
Having toured the world and recorded with an array of international artists (including Polydor Records' Detroit Social Club, Parlophone's VANT and Columbia Records' Little Comets) The Tyneside born David Green has since established himself as a leading music educator from his headquarters in London, England.
When the first wave of coronavirus hit the UK in March, the award-winning musician (Rhythm Magazine and Music Radar's Best New Drummer In The World, 2016) expanded his online drum teaching business to bring lessons to locked-down students across the country, with lessons being made available to all ages, levels of ability and backgrounds.
The service proved to be a huge success, allowing Green to assemble a team of ten seasoned musicians to teach across a range of disciplines, including singing, bass, guitar, drums, piano, music theory, music production and live sound engineering.
David explains: “We chose our teachers for their musical ability, previous experience teaching and working with children, their approachability and, of course, their personality. They are also very interesting people to learn from because of their musical backgrounds.
“All of our teachers are well-experienced players in the industry and have been so for a long time. This means we can help students with music industry advice alongside their tuition.
“Things like how to find a band, how to network, how to write songs, how to get songs released, etc. We help answer all the questions that we had ourselves as young musicians, which, through hard work and experience, we found the answers to.”
Despite being less than a year old, RockAcad has grown rapidly and now provides one-to-one tuition for students across the world.
“Lockdown has shifted public opinion about online education and demand for home learning has skyrocketed as a result,” continues David.
As many people have started to work from home, I’ve found that people are embracing the technology and understand the potential of it.
“When the schools reopened and people came out of lockdown, most of my current drum students wanted to keep their lessons online and I’ve continued to receive enquiries for online lessons. I think this year a lot of people have realised the power of online learning and smart learning from home.”
Before launching RockAcad, Green had a long and esteemed career in the live music and recording industry.
Having picked up the drumsticks at the age of 10, Green went on to play with some of the UK’s biggest indie rock bands, including VANT, Detroit Social club and the North East’s Little Comets.
He has toured the world several times over, has played the main stage at major music festivals and supported some of the world’s greatest bands, from Foo Fighters and Oasis to Kylie Minogue and the 1975.
He also has an impressive history as an international session musician, playing for the likes of Andy Taylor of Duran Duran, the UK X-Factor, Ricky Warwick of Thin Lizzy and Alice Cooper’s guitarist and collaborator, Tommy Henriksen.
These recordings have appeared on some of the world’s biggest record labels, including Universal, Parlophone, Polydor, Sony Music, Columbia and Fiction Records.
In a poll of 114,000 readers of Rhythm Magazine and MusicRadar, Greenie was voted as 2016’s Best New Drummer in The World.
Green has been teaching music since 2004, but it was only in 2017 that he made it his full-time career.
“Teaching has always been my side job when I wasn’t touring or recording,” Greenie says. “A few years ago I decided that I wanted to spend more time at home so I turned my full attention to teaching.
“I started working as a drum teacher at several prestigious London music academies and schools and taught one-to-one lessons online and in person. I also launched my own music consultancy service to support and give advice to young musicians who want to get into the industry.
Looking ahead to 2021, RockAcad has plans to expand its team and its range of courses and services. The company is also building specific music therapy courses which Green hopes will address the growing issue of mental health which has intensified in recent months due to increased cases of loneliness, isolation and financial difficulty.
Green goes on: “It has been widely proven that learning an instrument has many physical and mental benefits and can be used as a very important therapeutic tool in helping to destress, focus and provide a productive and healthy escape.
“This has been a lifeline for many people this year with lockdowns and restrictions. It is a form of escapism that you can have in your own home.”
He adds: “We want to keep expanding the business, collaborate with artists and educational services, host workshops, clinics and Q&A’s from special guest teachers.
“In the long-term, we strive to be a leading global online education service and build a community of musicians, mentors and music students.”
With Christmas just around the corner, the company is currently offering 20% off its packages which come in groups of five, ten or twenty lessons.
RockAcad has also pledged a series of free lessons for keyworkers and their children throughout the UK and USA, on a first come first serve basis. For more information email info@rockacad.com
For more information or to book a free 30-minute trial lesson head to: https://rockacad.com