Canberra-based music school teaches all students – young and old – to play an instrument

At 76 and 78, Canberra’s grandparents Maria and Chris Adams are proof that you’re never too old to hold on to your husband.

The retired accountants have just graduated from the Australian National University’s Community Rock School.

“We giggled as we filled out the application,” Ms. Adams said.

“But then we were accepted and thought, ‘Oh my God, Grandpa and Grandma are going to rock school!’

Adams said he would have loved to be in a band as a kid, but neither he nor his wife’s parents could ever afford music lessons.

Now between the two they play the ukulele, guitar and sing.

“We like to play the songs we remember because it gives us memories,” Adams said.

“It’s something we can share with each other and share with our eight grandchildren,” Ms Adams said.

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The rock school is run by Micha Forman through the ANU School of Music.

The program is free and open to anyone 18 years and older.

“We want really young participants who are just out of high school, all the way up to people in their 70s and 80s,” Ms. Forman said.

Students learn to play as a group as well as to develop their own instrumental skills.

At the end of the four- or ten-week program, the class will perform at a concert at the Canberra venue Smiths Alternative.

Micha Forman is the director of ANU Community Rock School.(ABC News: Toby Hunt)

“We have a lot of participants who made music in high school or made music as kids,” Ms. Forman said.

They say ‘my singing teacher told me I was not good’, or ‘I was never good enough to play the piano’, but they have always loved music.

“It can be a part of their lives in a way that they want it to be, not in a way that someone else has told them it should be.”

Triple Community Rock School participant Sarah Walker is a drummer, but recently got the courage to sing.

“I had never sung in public before. I love being a student again,” she said.

She said she rarely took risks as an adult.

“I think as an adult I’m less willing or less confident about making mistakes. But you learn so you’re going to make mistakes, so it’s good to do it in a safe environment,” she said.

“Trying something new with other people is really special and really hard to find.”

Sarah Walker has learned to play drums through school and has recently started singing in public.(ABC News: Toby Hunt )

A group united by a common love of music

Ms Walker said it had been a rich experience to be back in school with people of different ages and different backgrounds.

“We all have a common interest, we all have a common goal,” Ms Walker said.

“We’re all in the same boat,” Adams said.

“We talk guitars, we talk to [the younger students] just like we talk to our grandchildren. They are good children, and we relate to them – and I hope they relate to us. “

This year had been a challenge where the program went online during Canberra’s lockdown.

But the show must continue, and in January, the latest graduates will play together in real life.

“There’s something special about going, ‘no matter what your experience has been, no matter your abilities now, we are all different, we all like different music, but right now we’re playing this song and it sounds good and it feels good, “said Mrs Forman.

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