Together with The Rock and Roll Playhouse, The Capitol Theatre uses music to educate children and explore their creativity. Saturday afternoons at Garcia's feature fun-filled classes with different themes, exploring bands and artists like the Grateful Dead, Phish, and Bruce Springsteen. By learning musical concepts through games, movement, and stories, The Rock and Roll Playhouse lays the foundation for a lifelong musical journey. This interview with Executive Director Amy Striem will give you all the information you need to get started on you and your family's new adventure.

We'd love to hear some history about The Rock and Roll Playhouse. How long has the program been around? Has much has changed from when you started?

The concept for The Rock and Roll Playhouse began in 2011, when Peter Shapiro, owner of The Capitol Theatre and Brooklyn Bowl, noticed that families were flocking to Family Bowl at Brooklyn Bowl in search of opportunities for families and children to enjoy music together. Peter wanted to collaborate with an educator to start a kids music program using rock 'n' roll music. Peter and I collaborated with different musicians, teachers, music therapists, and music historians to create a unique music education curriculum for young children set to a rock and roll soundtrack. The initial plan was to make RRPH a dedicated venue with daily classes, I am a certified Early Childhood and Elementary teacher and have worked as a classroom teacher and school administrator. As we were working out construction details, we modified our curriculum to turn our daily classes into workshops for families at The Capitol Theatre and Brooklyn Bowl with guest artists joining our teaching artists who work with RRPH. We loved this new format and turned it into regular programmed shows at the venue. We receive a lot of requests to move to other cities, and that is what we are working on next.

What do you think makes Garcia's a special place for a Rock and Roll Playhouse Workshop? Is there a certain vibe that you're going for when you hold the workshops?

RRPH loves hosting workshops at Garcia’s because it is an intimate venue, where the kids can be close to the stage and easily watch the musicians perform. The children also love learning about the soundboard as well as playing a great game of catch in the carpeted lobby! The history and vibe at Garcia’s is undeniable, especially when we do Grateful Rockers workshops. There are amazing unique pictures of Jerry Garcia all over the venue, and his actual banjo is hanging on the wall. We often have artists who are playing The Capitol Theatre at night come visit us during soundcheck, and either watch our workshop or even lead one. One of our favorite moments was when Anders Osborne and Luther and Cody Dickinson from the North Mississippi Allstars joined us on stage to write a blues song.

Can you tell us a little bit about the types of activities the kids are taking place in during the workshops?

During every workshop we always have a movement activity, a music activity, and literature connection. During the movement activities, the kids are dancing, running under a parachute, and using their imaginations to pretend to move like animals or the wind. We use shakers, bells, percussion, and other instruments to show the kids how to keep the beat and play along with the band. We also have the kids participate in call and response parts of songs. There’s always a ton of dancing too, of course! Helping kids make the connection between music and literature is important to us, and we include songs that have been turned into books or songwriting into our workshops.

Is every workshop different? If not, what things change and what things stay the same?

Each week the music changes, which means different artists are joining us and taking the workshop in a whole new direction. When we are doing a Billy Joel workshop we are focusing on piano and singing, during a disco workshop we are dancing, and during our Phish workshop we are telling stories. The one thing that remains the same is that kids and families are singing and dancing together and RRPH staff is always there to lead the way.

Artists and bands like Phil Lesh, the Wailers, and Joe Russo's Almost Dead have joined your workshops as special guests. Do you have any memorable moments you can share from those shows?

Phil Lesh joined us for our very first workshop. He had his grandson with him, and it was beautiful to watch him singing Ripple with his grandson on his lap. Joe Russo’s Almost Dead got up very early on a Sunday morning after a late show the night before to join us for a Grateful Rockers show. One of my favorite moments of that show was watching each of the band members show the kids how to play the instruments. At Brooklyn Bowl, many of our bands perform on the floor so that experience is very interactive between the kids and the musicians.

How much involvement do you see with parents during these workshops? What are some of the things the parents can do while their kids listen and learn?

The best part of our workshops is the music we play is for the whole family. Parents will often choose to come to the workshops because they enjoy the music just as much as the kids, and this is a safe and fun opportunity for the family to experience music together. We often see parents meet up with friends at our shows which makes that experience ever greater. We hear a lot that it is complicated to get sitters to see night shows, so RRPH shows are a great way to see live music with the whole family. We often say we have been successful if after your family attends a RRPH show, the devices get turned off for a bit and your family jams to music together.

A study by researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois (http://apne.ws/1SkqYKi) prove that playing and learning music help to sharpen kids' brains and help them learn at a quicker pace. Can you see this first hand while doing the workshops?

The connection between music and learning is all around us. We see little babies at our workshops bopping to the beat, and taking steps as they emerge as walkers. We see toddlers quickly learning a chorus to a song and then singing that song into the microphone. We see kids put their hands and ears to the drum set to try and figure out how sound works, or put their hands on the upright bass to feel the vibrations. It is such a rewarding opportunity to be able to create a safe and fun environment where kids can experience live music at such a young age. It is all bout teaching the next generation about rock 'n' roll.