By LINDA CHION KENNEY
Billed as the “not your average music school,” Let There Be Rock opened in Riverview with tours and performances showcasing a facility built to teach, rehearse, perform, mix, record and appreciate music at all ages and skill levels.
At the helm is Kevin Sitaris, the son of a metal drummer and opera singer, whose credits as a touring musician include playing drums on the Warped Tour with Rivers Monroe. His business partner is Dave Cortino, who played in Christian punk and rock bands throughout his twenties and learned of Sitaris through music lessons for his daughter and then, later, for himself as well.
In a live room at Let There Be Rock in Riverview, from left, are Kevin Sitaris, Caroline Neese, Diana Schneiderman, Dave Cortino, Bella Murray and Ellie Lennon. Sitaris and Cortino own the music school. The Newsome High students are in the band Hypno City.
“For me, playing music is all about expression,” said Cortino, who as a kid wrote music in his bedroom. “Like doodling, it’s something you can create. But now, what really excites me about music is watching other people succeed at it. Growing up I didn’t have music lessons or an opportunity to play. I’m hoping now that other people can take advantage of [Let There Be Rock] and find a home and a place where they can learn, play, hang out and be happy.”
With year-long and summer camp programs on tap and rooms to rent to rehearse and record, Let There Be Rock is billed as “a combination music lesson facility and after-school rock ‘n’ roll community center.” Rooms are designated for lessons, performing, audio production and for hanging out, complete with a couch, large screen to view band videos and video games to relax and socialize with others.
Caroline Neese, center, is a music teacher at Let There Be Rock in Riverview, owned by Kevin Sitaris, left, and Dave Cortino, right.
“No matter what’s going on at home, at school, in your outside life, you walk in here, and you know you have people who care about you and who want to see you succeed in music and in everyday life,” said Newsome High student and Let There Be Life music instructor Caroline Neese. “Here, I have a place where I can chill out and be with people I care about.”
Count among them drummer Diana Schneiderman, guitarist Ellie Lennon and Bella Murray, who sings and plays the keyboards. Like Neese, they attend Newsome High, and together they form the band Hypno City, which performed with many others at the Let There Be Rock grand opening festivities April 29 and 30, at 9338 Balm Riverview Road.
“Kevin put the band together so that we could play for the opening, and then we just ended up becoming really close friends,” Neese said. “We’ve grown all together, not only in music but also as people in every aspect.”
Sitaris said he moved to the Tampa Bay area to play in cover bands, after living in Philadelphia, where he worked at the Let There Be Rock School in Folsom, Pa. “I started teaching here because Diana’s parents saw me playing at a church one day and asked me if I taught,” Sitaris said. “Then, I just kept getting students. Eventually I had too many, and I had to hire somebody.”
That’s how Neese, 17, who plays piano, bass, guitar, “a tad of drums,” ukulele and mandolin, became an instructor, but don’t let her age fool you. Like Sitaris, Neese is classically trained, and she’s been playing music for more than 10 years.
“I wanted to teach so that kids would just enjoy music because for a long time I got really burned out with what I was doing,” Neese said. “I wanted to make sure the kids that I taught were enjoying it and having the opposite of that feeling.”
Sitaris said he could relate from his own experience, noting that often when the arts lead to burnout, “when you change it up a little bit, it reignites your love and passion.”
Case in point is Neese, who said that for years she learned how to play a piece of music just how the composer wrote it. “So, learning how to freestyle on the piano or just how to play for me in general and enjoy it myself is something that Kevin taught me, and it made me really get back into music,” Neese explained. “Now I love [teaching]. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Linda Chion Kenney Photos
Kevin Sitaris, left, and Dave Cortino, at Let There Be Rock in Riverview
Let There Be Rock offers lessons in guitar, bass, drums, piano, ukulele, mandolin, voice and audio production. Stay tuned for theater offerings.
Also on tap, summer camps, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with times and dates subject to change, depending on demand. Additions are possible as well. For now, the three-camp schedule kicks off with the New Musicians Camp, June 5-9, in which students will rehearse and prepare a song ready to perform at a Friday night Let There Be Rock School movie night.
Songwriting Camp, June 19-23, is for students who have at least a few months in lessons. They will discuss and dissect songs from different genres and compose their own song for performance at a movie night. Rounding out the offerings is the Song Production Camp, July 10-17, for students to record a song. Time permitting, students will shoot a music video as well.
For more, including costs and music teacher opportunities, visit Let There Be Rock in Riverview at www.ltbrsriverview.com or call 813-459-5447.