"The Rock that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." - Psalm 118:22, Matthew 22:42, Acts 4:11
"Upon this Rock I will build my church." - Matthew 16:18
"Jesus is the Rock of my salvation. His banner over me is love." - Unknown
"Jesus is the Rock and he rolled my blues away." - Larry Norman

 

SchoolOfTheRock.com

You’ll notice that this web page is home to a strange combination of articles about Christian living, Christian music, vintage saxophones, music in general, and Bible studies. Would it help to know we used to have articles about guitars and banjos and other instruments, but we’ve moved them to other pages?

paul_old_timey_2016_03_200Our site owner, Paul Race has been a Folk singer, a Rock saxophonist, a Jesus/CCM/Gospel musician, a church youth director, an associate minister, a long-time worship leader, a technical writer, and a Bible and Literature professor.  In 2011, Paul was a worship team member, playing saxophone for the most part, though doubling on guitar or bass when needed.  He kept encountering young Christians who were also musicians and who were wondering about God’s will for their lives and how to pursue a career in Music (even “Christian” music) without making choices that would lead to financial or spiritual disaster. 

So Paul started The School of The Rock with the intention of making it a music and Bible training resource site for younger believers, musicians, youth leaders, music teachers, and worship leaders.  However we started getting lots of questions about other subjects, as well.  So we have written articles on a wide variety of subjects, including:  

If you find any of the content on this site, useful, please let us know.  If you’d like to see more content on certain topics, or have any correstions or additions, please let us know that, as well.

Discussion Forums:

Our discussion forums are starting to collect some good questions and answers, especially about vintage saxophones.  The SchoolOfTheRock.com discussion forum is a good place to discuss all the topics you encounter on this site (not just the music ones).

  • To see the SchoolOfTheRock.com forum without signing up, click here.
  • To sign up for the SchoolOfTheRock.com forum (and the Mamma Don’t ‘Low” newsletter if you wish), click here.

If you're interested in acoustic music, Americana, heartland history, and related topics, you may want to sign up for the Creek Don't Rise discussion forums. 

  • To see the Creek Don't Rise discussion forum without signing up, click here.
  • To sign up for the Creek Don't Rise forum (and the Momma Don’t ‘Low newsletter, if you wish), click here.

Sister Sites:cdrtitl4

Our sister site CreekDontRise.com keeps growing as a result of reader questions about acoustic musical instruments, live performance, etc. Consequently, we’ve found ourselves dividing the music-oriented articles somewhat between folk and acoustic-oriented (CreekDon’tRise.com) and worship, electric, and wind-oriented (here). 

There will be some overlap of course, and some articles will continue to be posted on both sites.   But if you’re say, a saxophone player or worship leader, you may tend to find more information you can use here.  And if you are a banjo player, you may tend to find more information you can use on CreekDontRise.com.

If that’s not confusing enough, we also have a site dedicated just to songs about trains - ClassicTrainSongs.com, and individual pages about music on some of our other sites as well. We’ve added some links at the bottom of this page to give you some idea of what the other sites offer.   mommadontlow_200

Music Newsletter - We are continuing “irregular” publication of our newsletter for listing updates to all of our music pages.  "Momma Don't 'Low"  reports on developments in home-made and Americana music in general as well as new articles on our music sites, including: SchoolOfTheRock™, Creek Don't Rise, and Classic Train Songs™.  .

Expanded and Updated Buyers’ Guides - We continue to get questions about what kind of instrument toriverboatmusic_title_200 buy.  So we’ve continued to expand the buyer’s guides, especially the banjo section, since there is so little valid information on some topics.  

 

More Articles Planned - Building a worthwhile web site when you have fifty other things going on takes time.  Also, sometimes things go in different directions than you expect, as reader demand, author availability, etc. change.  In the meantime, we have a number of new articles and resources planned under the various headings:

As you have a chance to examine any of our materials, please let us know what you like, what you don’t like, what you’d like to see more of, along with any other comments, complaints, suggestions, additions, corrections, or questions you’d like to send us.

All material, illustrations, and content of this web site are copyrighted (c) 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 by Paul D. Race. All rights reserved.

For questions, comments, suggestions, trouble reports, etc. about this web page or its content, please contact us.


Paul Race playing a banjo. Click to go to Paul's music home page.A Note from Paul: Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you enjoy your music and figure out how to make enjoyable music for those around you as well.

And please stay in touch!

    - Paul Race Click to see Paul's music home page Click to contact Paul through this page. Click to see Paul's music page on Facebook Click to visit our discussion forum. Click to hear Paul's music on SoundCloud. Click to see Paul's music blog page Click to learn about our Momma Don't Low Newsletter. Click to see Paul's YouTube Channel. Click to see Paul's Twitter Page

Visit related pages and affiliated sites:
Heartland-inspired music, history, and acoustic instrument tips.
Best-loved railroad songs and the stories behind them.
Visit musings about music on our sister site, School of the Rock With a few tools and an hour or two of work, you can make your guitar, banjo, or mandolin much more responsive.  Instruments with movable bridges can have better-than-new intonation as well. The Independent Christian  Musician. Check out our article on finding good used guitars.
Carols of many countries, including music, lyrics, and the story behind the songs. X and Y-generation Christians take Contemporary Christian music, including worship, for granted, but the first generation of Contemporary Christian musicians faced strong, and often bitter resistance. Different kinds of music call for different kinds of banjos.  Just trying to steer you in the right direction. New, used, or vintage - tips for whatever your needs and preferences. Wax recordings from the early 1900s, mostly collected by George Nelson.  Download them all for a 'period' album. Explains the various kinds of acoustic guitar and what to look for in each.
Look to Riverboat Music buyers' guide for descriptions of musical instruments by people who play musical instruments. Learn 5-string banjo at your own speed, with many examples and user-friendly explanations. Explains the various kinds of banjos and what each is good for. Learn more about our newsletter for roots-based and acoustic music. Folks with Bb or Eb instruments can contribute to worship services, but the WAY they do depends on the way the worship leader approaches the music. A page devoted to some of Paul's own music endeavors.