‘Music is the greatest teacher I’ve ever known’

After seeing School of Rock through the eyes of my eight-year-old child on the weekend, I was reminded of just how much some songs really give us, writes Darren Levin.

For those unfamiliar with it, School Of Rockis a modern Peter Pan story.

A guy that can’t let go of his rock’n’roll dreams is kicked out of his band and somehow blags his way into a teaching job at a stuffy school, where he decides to ditch the curriculum and go off script, teaching kids about classic rock like AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, opening their minds to a world outside their stuffy, domineering parents.

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The film-turned-musical is a powerful reminder of music as a transformative, life-altering force. Teacher Dewey Finn doesn’t get to be the rock star he always dreamt of, but he gets to do what he loves. And while the kids will all probably end up as boring actuaries in the unwritten sequel, there’s no doubt their perceptions of the world have shifted as well.

“What I like about it is there isn’t any single person in the story whose life isn’t altered by music,” Andrew Lloyd Webber — the literal theatre Lord behind this and every other musical — recently told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“It’s about the fact that the music, albeit rock music, sets the children free and how the children making music, their music, actually changes the lead character.”

Teacher Dewey Finn (played by Jack Black) taught the kids of his class the ins and outs of truly great music. Picture: supplied

Watching School Of Rock at Her Majesty’s Theatre with my eight-year-old daughter last week made me reflect on the ways in which music had transformed my own life. In many ways it’s the greatest teacher I’ve known.

Rock allowed me to embrace being an outsider in a suburban school environment where being different generally meant you watched Neighbours over Home And Away. It encouraged free thought and constructive rebellion; not necessarily swapping out an LCM bar for a tab of LSD at recess, but questioning authority — your parents, your teachers, Ronald McDonald, that person on TV telling you to buy all the things.

There were practical lessons, too. Fleetwood Mac taught me about weather events — storms, landslides, and thunder always happening when it rains. They also taught me to never, um, defecate where I eat.

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I learnt about minimalism and personal brand continuity from The White Stripes, the power of pyromania from Jimi Hendrix, and the fact you can do anything you can set your mind to from The Strokes — providing you are rich and white.

I learnt about the struggles of black Americans from soul, jazz, R & B, blues, and later hip-hop; and feminism from PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Adalita, Salt-N-Pepa, and Courtney Love.

As my tastes evolved beyond classic rock and grunge in the ‘90s, scrappy home recorded artists like Orange Juice, Shaggs and Daniel Johnston taught me that art is about personal expression, not virtuosic talent.

Darren Levin's oldest daughter is currently in her Fleetwood Mac phase. Picture: supplied

I eventually followed my rock’n’roll obsession to its logical end point: a challenging and sometimes unprofitable career as a music critic and editor, much against the advice of my parents, who would’ve preferred me to pursue a career as a miserable lawyer.

Fifteen years on and I’m glad I never listened to them. I know they had good intentions, but I hope my daughters do the same if I ever dare question their right to forge their own path.

School Of Rock the musical resonated with me for different reasons than when I first saw Richard Linklater’s film in 2003. But watching the musical adaptation through the eyes of my daughter really drove home the true message inherent in that film.

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She’s a total music obsessive whose fascination with Boy George on The Voice has taken her down a musical wormhole that started with Culture Club and continued on through The Beatles, Madonna, and beyond.

Her favourite band now is Fleetwood Mac, and the school run has become our own version of School Of Rock, during which we marvel at the harmonies in ‘The Chain’ and I try to explain the messy interpersonal relationships that underpin Rumours to a kid that’s only ever known a nuclear family.

Even if this isn’t the same transformative experience as it was for me, at least she’ll be able to kick arse at trivia. And for that at least, Dewey Finn would surely be proud.

Darren Levin is a writer, editor and wannabe dad-fluencer based in Melbourne. Find him on Twitter and Instagram.