Lost Prophets reward student rockers

The dream of being in a rock band came true for 40 students in Rhondda Cynon Taf during the summer holidays.

As part of the award winning E3+ programme students from Bryn Celynnog Comprehensive, Pontypridd High School and Treorchy Comprehensive were treated to a five day course in rock.

This unique course was provided by CJS Entertainments' Rock School programme, which is an educational provision designed for budding musicians who wish to further themselves in the field of music. The course also aims to increase confidence and self-esteem.

Throughout the rock school students received personal instrument tuition from expert tutors - developing skills in technique, tuning, set up, music theory, composition and arrangement, stagecraft, and live performance.

During the programme seven bands were created, made up of the 40 students from across the County Borough, the newly created bands came together to showcase their skills in a special live performance in front of an audience of 200 people at Pontypridd Town and District Club.

This unique performance allowed the young people to show off what they had learnt during the course with each band performing two songs, one original composition that they wrote during the week and one cover version.

The audience included the Valleys' own rock stars - The Lost Prophets, who were on hand on the night to award the students with their Rock School certificates of achievements.

Ian Watkins from the Lost prophets, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for the kids, we had our chance and its great to see them getting theirs."

E3+ Coordinator at Bryn Celynnog Comprehensive, Andrew Price said: "The Rock School summer project brought fun, excitement and musical genius to our schools. It was something that the young people will never forget, especially meeting The Lost Prophets! It was amazing to see how much the students developed in just one week, the showcase event was fantastic and is testimony to the amazing talent we have in the County Borough."

Councillor Eudine Hanagan, Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, said: "The E3+ programme enables young people to take part in activities which they wouldn’t normally be able to be involved in, and means they develop and learn from their experiences through fun and exciting opportunities. E3+ continues to go from strength to strength and is making a real difference to young people’s lives and their future prospects."

Chris Stone, Project Manager at Rock School, said: "Rock School is a fantastic way to help young people to live out the dream of being in a rock band and give them kickstart into a career in music. The project harnesses talent and its amazing to see some of the potential the young people have here in Rhondda Cynon Taff, Rock School is happy to be 'keeping the magic alive'!"

For further information on the Rock School call Chris Stone on 0781144336