Corona, CA: Kids Rock Free program coming to charter school

Kids ages 7 to 17 will soon have a chance to rock in Temecula.

The Corona-based Fender Center is partnering with a new charter middle school to offer the popular Kids Rock Free program in Temecula.

Through the program, free and low-cost music lessons will be offered after school at Context: Middle School, Temecula, said Michele Smith, founder of the school. Context students also will use the Kids Rock Free curriculum for music instruction during the school day, she said.

The after-school lessons are not limited to Context students.

Context is set to open in August on a site next to the Temecula Valley Unified School District offices and will serve 300 students in sixth to eighth grades. Potential Context students need not live in the Temecula Valley district. Enrollment is now under way.

The school's partnership with Kids Rock Free, which is still being finalized, marks the Fender Center's first expansion of the music education program, Executive Director Debbie Shuck said.

Until now, the program has only been offered at the Fender Center in Corona, but has drawn youths from 7 to 17 from more than 100 cities in Southern California for guitar, bass, drum, piano, voice and other lessons, Shuck said.

Kids Rock supporters, including musician and Fender Center trustee Steve Miller, hope to expand the program across the country and even internationally, she said.

"We want to move beyond our own backyard," Shuck said. The organization decided to begin with Temecula in part because the new program would be close to the original program in Corona, she said.

"This is a perfect fit," Shuck said.

In the Fender Center program, the initial lessons are free. A small fee is charged, $150 for eight weeks, for further lessons, Shuck said. The program began 12 years ago and has served more than 14,000 students, she said. More than 1,000 children are on the waiting list, she said.

Students and parents can learn more about the Kids Rock Free program and Context: Middle School during a kickoff meeting Wednesday at the Context site. Representatives of Context and Kids Rock Free will be on hand to answer questions.

A Fender guitar valued at more than $1,000 will be raffled off Wednesday, Smith said. Students who have completed "intent to enroll" forms for Context will be eligible to win the guitar, she said.