FELCH TOWNSHIP — School of rock is now in session at North Dickinson County School District.

Thanks to a recent gift of guitars, eighth grade students get to live the dream of playing in a rock band.

The opportunity came through Free Guitars 4 Kids, a non-profit organization based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area that is dedicated to changing lives through music by putting guitars in the hands of youth. Their belief is music is among society’s greatest gifts, so every child should be able to experience both the tangible benefits and the joy of a musical instrument.

The donation included six acoustic guitars, one left-handed acoustic guitar, two bass guitars, four electric guitars, as well as amps, stands, extra strings, tuner and picks.

“Everything you need to start is here,” said Heidi Oman, who volunteered to teach band after Tina Anderson retired three years ago.

Oman was not only surprised by the number of guitars received but that they are all brand-new Fenders.

“This is huge. I didn’t expect this, especially since most members of the group had never played guitar before,” she said. “I was thinking maybe we would get a few used instruments.”

Since the start of the school year, Oman had looked into different opportunities, specifically for the Class of 2029.

“This class blends musically very well together and are very committed,” Oman said.

Her first thought was to form a pep band but found they didn’t have the right instrumentation or sheet music for what was needed. They then turned to the possibility of forming a jazz band; however, for some of the same reasons it didn’t develop.

Oman added that purchasing new sheet music would be too costly for the music program as well.

Oman continued searching online for grant possibilities or organizations that could help fund instruments, but the majority of the results were specifically geared for teacher applicants.

She then altered her search to grants parents could apply for. “It was after that is when I came across Free Guitars 4 Kids,” she said.

Oman immediately sent out an email to the non-profit’s director, Ben Dudley, explaining the situation and how she wants to fill a group of middle school band students with some “awesomeness.”

She received an instant response from Dudley with the good news. “He loves the fact that this community isn’t letting the program die after losing their band teacher to retirement,” Oman said.

Dudley also asked her how she found them. She replied, “Somewhere between Tony Bennett and grants you came up.”

“I think it was a God thing, because there it was,” she said.

Oman recalls she was crying when she broke the news to the kids.

“I said, ‘This is what he will give us, so if you want to start a rock band, let’s start a rock band,'” she said. “Why not? They are worth it.” This will be North Dickinson’s first rock band. The 10 members meets after school every Monday.

For now, Oman is keeping it to this small group of eighth graders to see how it works out. “It’s all trial and error at this point,” she said. “If it goes well, maybe we can grow in a couple of years.”

The band has spent the first few weeks of practice learning basic chords.

Oman noted that most songs are just three or four chords — from there, they learn how to transpose everything. “A lot of musical theory,” she said.

A bonus for the students is they are able to take the guitars home each week to continue to learn on their own.

“What is also nice is that the guitars aren’t loud, so they won’t disturb those at home,” she said.

The FGFK website is kid-friendly and provides resources and the best YouTube videos for beginners or intermediate players.

“YouTube is priceless for learning,” Oman said. “A lot of songs that Stetson (Oman) plays, he learned from YouTube.”

Stetson Oman is among the couple of band members who already had experience with guitar.

“I’m so happy we get to do this. I was just playing at home and now I get to play with people my age,” he said. “It’s going to be so much fun.”

They selected the 1998 blues rock song “Blue on Black” by Kenny Wayne Shepherd as their first piece.

When they have enough material, they hope to host a fundraiser concert on the school’s stage that they could invest back into the program.

“We put together a drum kit with every broken piece we could find in the school, but we make it work,” Oman said. “Hopefully we can make some money so we can purchase a drum set.”

Another goal is to play for home sporting events.

While they haven’t officially decided the band’s name, Oman likes “2029.”

Oman said she took over as a parent volunteer because she felt strongly about keeping the band program going.

“I will continue to put in 40-plus hours a week until they can hire someone,” she said. “There’s no downside for me — I love music.”

Oman comes from a musical family, including a grandmother who was a classically trained concert musician. She began playing piano when only about 3 years old. From there, her grandparents purchased and taught her any instrument she wanted to try.

“I didn’t know how blessed I was until I got older,” she said.

Oman picked up the guitar as a young teen and learned the basics from her mother and aunt. She believes the guitar is a lifetime forever instrument.

“No one asked if you brought your alto saxophone to a campfire, but they will ask if you brought your guitar,” Oman said.

Oman expressed her great appreciation to FGFK for the opportunity to offer students this experience.

“We are very excited,” she said. “I can’t wait to see where this goes. It’s going to be fun — how can it not, it’s rock music.”