Fathers in the county are keeping the classics alive with a new generation of rock stars ”“ Westchester kids.
Two childhood friends opened a new branch of the School of Rock franchise in Mamaroneck in September. With corporate backgrounds, Tory Ridder and Ned Kelly, and their business partners Steve Kennedy and Tony Reilly, are getting a taste of what it”™s like to be entrepreneurs ”“ and rock band managers.
School of Rock, a company based in suburban Chicago with more than 140 locations in eight countries, is not unlike the 2003 movie of the same name starring Jack Black as teacher to a group of student musicians. The after-school program offers school-age kids and adults private music lessons and an opportunity to join a rock band. Weekly group rehearsals are practice for the live themed rock show the students put on at the end of the season.
“It”™s such a great feeling ”“ and this ties into the business ”“ to see the music that I grew up on inspiring the next generation and how they”™re able to connect with it and use it as a way to learn music,” said Ridder, 40, of Fleetwood in Mount Vernon. “This type of program teaches kids how music was meant to be played and how the founding fathers of rock, how they did it. It”™s a wonderful tool to use that music as both inspiration and teaching material for the kids.”
Ridder, a musician who grew up in New Rochelle, said he and wife Vanessa Ridder, a singer, had wanted to start their own music school for years. When he went to see his childhood hero Jon Anderson perform in 2007, he was surprised to see the Yes star on stage with School of Rock-trained musicians. He said the kids”™ talent blew him away, and that put School of Rock on his radar.
Two years ago Ridder and childhood friend Ned Kelly, 40, who had recently returned to Larchmont from working abroad as a managing director at Deutsche Bank, talked about opening a School of Rock together.
“We decided to call corporate and see what was available, and say, ”˜Listen, we”™re from southern Westchester, we know you don”™t have a school here and we want to open one, and we know that we”™re the guys to do it,” Ridder said.
Executives at School of Rock headquarters grouped Kelly and Ridder with Kennedy, 44, of Bedford, and Reilly, 46, of Manhattan, who had already opened franchises in Bedford and across the Connecticut border in Fairfield, Shelton and New Canaan. Ridder said Reilly and Kennedy”™s knowledge about the business has been an asset.
The four equal partners signed the agreement for the Mamaroneck school a year ago and invested about $200,000 to launch it. They leased a 3,000-square-foot space for the business at 1 Depot Plaza across from Mamaroneck”™s Metro-North Railroad station. The school design and build-out cost $90,000. For rights to the School of Rock brand, the owners pay an 8 percent royalty fee and a 3 percent brand fund fee per month based on their revenue.
Ridder and Kelly also paid $20,000 to obtain the rights to open two more locations in southern Westchester County in the next two years. They are looking for spaces along the Harlem and Hudson train lines. In August, the two also acquired a School of Rock in Roslyn, N.Y.
Ridder said he enjoys working with Kelly, whom he”™s known since grammar school, and influencing young musicians.
Ridder also works with his wife, who left her job as director of communications at the Mount Vernon City School District to be general manager of School of Rock full time. Ridder splits time between his job at School Guide Publications in New Rochelle and at the rock schools. Kelly works full time at the new business venture and his wife, Eliza, helps out.
At least one of the four owners is in the Mamaroneck space each day, said Ridder. Reilly, who has worked at startups and a private equity firm, and Kennedy, who has a background in publishing, are full-time owners. The school also employs one full-time music director and professional music teachers.
Although Ridder doesn”™t work full time at School of Rock yet, he said it takes up a surprising amount of time, whether he”™s marketing, dealing with a facilities issue or finding venues. He spends many early mornings, late nights and weekends working on the business.
“It becomes part of everything you do,” Ridder said. “The time you devote is more than anything else. It”™s incredibly rewarding to have a vision and a dream and see it realized; it”™s unlike anything else I”™ve ever done.”
The school currently has about 50 students. Its performance program, which includes a private weekly lesson and a weekly 3-hour band rehearsal, costs $340 per month for the season. Rock 101, the same program but for younger students, costs $295 per month. Private lessons alone cost $240 per month. Adults pay $295 per month for weekly classes and practices.
The bands mix kids of different ages that have varying levels of ability, which naturally leads to the older kids mentoring the younger ones, Ridder said. On a Wednesday, the Ridders watched as students, including their son, Wolfe, 9, performed together on vocals, keyboard, bass guitar, guitar and drums in the rehearsal room. The Rock 101 group will open with The Beatles followed by the older group”™s rendition of Pink Floyd”™s “The Wall” at the school”™s first live show, Feb. 8 at Molly Spillane”™s in Mamaroneck.
Ridder predicts the Mamaroneck school will break even after its third month. The team”™s main focus is to increase enrollment by partnering with the community, marketing with social media and advertising at the train station and on local blogs. He hopes to eventually offer more shows and fundraise for the Rock School Scholarship Fund, which gives need-based scholarships to students to take School of Rock classes.
With posters of Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix decorating the studio, the space appeals to rock-loving parents as well as their kids. In the lounge, there”™s a wall for students to sign their names ”“ or practice their autographs ”“ and the Ridders”™ son”™s artwork is on display. Ridder calls his work a “labor of love” since his two sons and the Kellys”™ two daughters take classes at the school. Ridder said he has seen his son”™s confidence grow from learning bass guitar.
“It”™s been an incredible experience for us seeing our own children embrace it the way they have,” Ridder said, “and it makes all the hard work worthwhile.”
