Jesse McNamara is giving Columbus children a chance he never had. "This is something I wish I had when I was younger," McNamara said. The 33-year-old owner of Music Royale in Powell has added a unique classs, called Rock School, to the list of music lessons. The nine-week course groups children in the same age group and musical interests into a band. During the course of the one-hour lessons each week, the band learns music and about the dynamics of working in a group. "Everybody's been pretty good about getting along," McNamara said. "Part of the whole thing is that they're learning how to work with other people...people really don't think of a rock band giving that experience."

McNamara said students also get to choose their own music and some even write their own. "I'm really encouraged about it...the teachers are just guiding the students," McNamara said. "Every group has just taken off with it. What's really neat for me is that the young ones get really specific things to do in school...whhen thhey get is a group situation (here) they control their own destiny. They have a lot of ownership," he said. During the last rock school course, one band took up jazz. McNamara said he was impressed by what he saw from the young musicians. "They pulled off some really difficult stuff. This is a teenage band ... they blew everyone away," he said. "Even the young kinds, just seeing them transform, they get into a group and focus."

At the conclusion of the course, students get to participate in a "live gig" in the Emerald City Ballroom at Dublin Village Center. At the most recent performance, the five bands drew 200 spectators, McNamara said. One family made T-shirts," he said. A live recording is also made at the event, and a compact disc of the performance is given to each of the students. The third rock school course begins in January. Enrollment starts in December. McNamara said he is expecting a good response. With limited space, he said it has filled up quickly in the past. "Half of the students came back (for the second rock school), "McNamara said.

In addition to Rock School, Music Royale also offers other music lessons and sells a variety of guitars and new and used instruments. During the more than three years it's been open, Music Royale has built its clientele. McNamara said he employs 30 teachers who instruct more than 550 students in the 15 rooms at Music Royale. Although most of the students are local, McNamara said some come from as far away as Lancaster and Circleville. "They come for a specific teacher," he said. "When we have teachers with such excellent reputations, you have that."

Two of the bands from Rock School will perform, along with 120 other students at the biannual Music Royale recital Sunday at the Lazy Chameleon, 4028 Presidential Parkway. Strings, piano, voice, woodwind and brass students will perform at 1 p.m. Students of guitar, bass, drum and the rock school class will take their turn at 4 p.m.