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Little Kids Rock Schoolhouse

Tribune photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ

100 students at Oak Grove Elementary School are currently enrolled in Little Kids Rock, a national music curriculum that uses contemporary hard rock, pop, punk.

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By JOHN W. ALLMAN

jallman@tampatrib.com

Published: February 27, 2009

Updated: 02/27/2009 12:34 am

TAMPA - Sabrina Kaik's tiny fingers glide over the guitar strings as she rips into the opening riff of AC/DC's "Back in Black."

Her music teacher, David Hendricks, can't help but smile.

"Sabrina, how old are you?" he asks. She answers softly, 9 years old.

"I wish I had rocked that hard at 9."

Sabrina is one of about 100 students at Oak Grove Elementary School enrolled in Little Kids Rock, a national music curriculum that teaches children and young adults to play music by using contemporary hard rock, pop, punk and other genres.

Little Kids Rock serves more than 34,000 students nationwide with 19 chapters in 11 states and the District of Columbia.

There are 4,660 Hillsborough County students in the local chapter, making it the second-largest behind only Dallas, which has 7,125 students.

That may soon change.

Little Kids Rock founder David Wish said his organization is trying to raise $100,000 for Tampa's chapter this year. About $20,000 of that has been donated.

The money would help buy hundreds of new instruments, offer additional training and double the number of students and teachers participating.

"If we are successful ... there's a good chance that Tampa would become our largest single city in terms of the number of children we can reach," Wish said.

Hendricks, along with Paul Quintero, teaches third-, fourth- and fifth-graders at Oak Grove. Wish said Hendricks has worked hard to show how much his students benefit from the curriculum. Hendricks regularly uploads videos of his class performing classic rock songs that Little Kids Rock participants can view online.

As a reward, Wish said, Little Kids Rock chose Hendricks' classroom to receive a free drum set for students to practice.

It was personally delivered Wednesday by one of rock 'n' roll's classic drummers - Carmine Appice, who has played with rock royalty such as Rod Stewart, Pink Floyd and Ozzy Osbourne.

Little Kids Rock regularly works with musical icons such as Appice, B.B. King, Tom Waits and Joe Satriani, asking them to visit classrooms across the country to speak to students and jam with them.

"It's amazing," Hendricks said of Appice. "He knew Keith Moon of The Who. He's met The Beatles. Led Zeppelin opened for his band, Vanilla Fudge."

Appice, 62, answered questions and spent more than an hour playing songs such as Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" with the students.

"Is it true you really, really, really played with Ozzy Osbourne?" one student asked.

Appice laughed. Yes, he said, it was really, really, really true.

He also worked with the class to create an original song with lyrics and music. And he promised to come back to hear their progress.

The classroom was packed when Appice arrived. Two dozen parents and teachers lined the back wall to listen to a classic rocker whose career began in the late 1960s.

But his attention never wavered from the students in front of him, each holding either a guitar or a pair of drumsticks.

"I love the way they just light up," Appice said. "It's a great thing to see, these kids being inspired."

Reporter John W. Allman can be reached at (813) 259-7915.

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