These videos capture Steve Sainas' Rock School Student Performances during "ROCK THE FOX" in the Terry Fox Theatre, Port Coquitlam, BC Canada.
Until he retired on January 31st, 2022, Steve Sainas was the Rock School, Recording Arts & Guitar Teacher at Terry Fox Secondary School in Port Coquitlam, BC. He developed the Rock School & Recording Arts programs at Terry fox Secondary in 2000/2001 with one class of 25 rock school students and one class of 16 recording arts students.
He taught approximately 200 Rock School and Recording Arts students per year. Each class was blended grades 9 to 12 in order to create a leadership/mentor-ship dynamic to accelerate learning and build self-esteem.
In Rock School, students formed their own rock bands. The students could choose whatever songs they wished to perform with the goal of putting on a professional full production rock show in the Terry Fox Theatre at the end of each semester. This was their final exam for this full credit music course. Rock School generally had 60-90 bands per school year (approximately 10-15 bands per show) and their styles covered every genre: blues, punk, metal, classic rock, goth, emo, progressive, original material...you name it, and it had been done with almost professional quality for most bands. These shows were also our primary funding source. At 5 bucks a ticket and 6 shows a year, the program generated enough funds per year with which to maintain and buy new music gear. Rock School's last concert prior to the pandemic was on January 16th, 2020 at 7pm in the Terry Fox Theatre.
In 2008/2009, The Terry Fox Music Program was selected by CARAS/MusiCounts to receive a $10,000.00 BandAid Grant with which to purchase new instruments. The Rock School music program was further honoured to be selected to host the kick off celebration for the 2009 Juno Awards where MusiCounts presented us with the Grant and the school was also treated to special performance by the Juno Nominated band, The Trews. Terry Fox Music Students also performed for the school, special guests and national media covering this special event.
In 2015, Steve was honoured to receive the Juno Award for MusiCounts Teacher of the Year.
https://www.musicounts.ca/programs-ov...https://www.samaritanmag.com/musician...
Due to a strong Recording Arts program that many students took in addition to Rock School, many alumni went on to to study at recording colleges such as Hot Sole Music, Nimbus School of Recording Arts, Douglas College MTC, The Vancouver Art Institute, and The Pacific Audio Visual Institute (PAVI) to get their engineering diplomas. Some chose to pursue careers in recording engineering, video game audio production, broadcasting, or entertainment management. Most of the graduates continue to record and perform at various levels in the music industry. Here's a link to one of 2013's top recording projects: https://soundcloud.com/austin-ledyard....
Here are some Rock School and Recording Arts alumni post grad projects and accomplishments:
Austin Ledyard: 2nd Place $10,000 prize winner 2013 Nimbus Mix Contest http://nimbusrecording.com/nimbus-mix...
Royal Oak: Grads 2013 & 2014 - Austin Ledyard, Brayson Wong, Myles Philpott, James Armstrong, Jaret Stodola. Released Royal Oak EP in 2015 https://royaloakofficial.bandcamp.com/
Alexis Douglas: Engineer at Mushroom/Hipposonic. Mixer and Producer of Orkestar Slivoviča, Ziveli http://orkestarslivovica.bandcamp.com/http://goo.gl/MWrLRX
Matt Perrin: Grad 2010. Guitarist for "Threat Signal" and "AngelMaker" https://www.facebook.com/threatsignalhttps://www.facebook.com/angelmakerband
Endorsed by Caparison Guitars. https://www.facebook.com/MattPerrinOf...
Threat Signal tours: 2x USA approx 40 cities & 20 cities in Europe including Germany's Euroblast. Recently recorded CD with Angel Maker.
Mason Amlee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0xay... Grad 2010. Joined rock school in grade 11... football was his passion. He moved to LA and has been working as session drummer and and a touring musician with his band "The Broadway Bullies"
Ken Abbey and Johnny Kaye: Grads 2008. Formed Stars Blvd and won Vancouver Seeds 2010. Toured with Buck Cherry and Sam Roberts. Opened for Deep Purple at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, Victoria and the QE Theatre, Vancouver. https://soundcloud.com/starsblvdmusic
Alanna Pearce: Grad 2007. Music Degree from Capilano University and Teaching Degree from UBC. Currently working as TTOC in Vancouver She is also the drummer for the critically acclaimed, Greg Drummond Band http://www.gregdrummond.com/
For more info, please contact Steve Sainas by email: stevesainas@gmail.com