Back in 1990, Norton York - one of the founders of Rockschool - was running a university course in modern and popular music. Many of his students however were unable to get grants or funding to attend his course due to the fact that they did not have a Grade 8 qualification in Music. At that time you could only take Graded exams in Classical Music offered by long established exam boards such as Trinity Guildhall (now Trinity College London) and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM).

To quote from the Rockschool website:

"From a small office in West London in 1991, RSL (Rockschool Ltd) had a dream to change the landscape of formal music education and sought to become the first viable alternative to the traditional offerings available in Britain at the time.

"To simultaneously fill the void and satisfy a demand that they knew was out there, founders Norton York and Dr. Simon Pitt initially developed a guitar, bass and drums syllabus for the contemporary musician. Rockschool began offering these exams in the summer of 1991, making it the world’s first graded exam syllabus for popular music".

The syllabus rapidly expanded and today includes Vocals, Piano & Keys, Acoustic & Electric guitar, Ukelele and Music Production. Graded Exams or Performance Certificates from Grade 1-8 as well as university- level Diplomas and Licentiates in Music Performance and Teaching can now be obtained. Contemporary Musicians can thus now obtain internationally recognised qualifications that are on a par with their Classically trained counterparts.

Songworks Centre For Contemporary Vocals was established in 2009 also in recognition of the fact that there were virtually no schools or music teachers in South Africa offering formal training in Contemporary Music. In most schools, the students’ only opportunity for singing was through joining the choir and the repertoire tended to be largely drawn from the Classical genre.

That year, Jason Hartman a talented singer, guitarist and songwriter who Tracy had known since his childhood, was persuaded by friends to audition for the TV show "IDOLS". During the weeks that followed he progressed steadily through the various rounds and ultimately won the competition.

Thousands of people had queued in venues across the country (and still do every year) for the chance to appear on the show. Its popularity is huge and so are the figures for entrants and viewers of the UK and the US versions of the show. The popularity of similar shows such as ’X FACTOR’ and "THE VOICE" confirmed to us that there were thousands of young people who were aspiring to become professional singers.

Songworks, like Rockschool, was founded to fill the void and satisfy the demand for singers who wanted to receive the training and techniques required for them to be able to perform the songs that they love by the artists they see or listen to on TV and radio.

We must emphasise that Songworks is not a "Fame Academy" and we are not here to make you a star. What we can guarantee is to make you a BETTER singer, build your self-confidence and help you develop the tools you will need to succeed in a competitive music industry.

Songworks entered 6 students for the first ever Rockschool Exam session to be held in KZN in 2010. Since then over 400 Songworks students and hundreds of others have taken Rockschool Exams at our studio.

• Songworks students pass rate is 99.5%
• 87% of Songworks students have achieved either a Distinction or a Merit
• 16 Songworks students have won a Rockschool National Award for achieving the highest exam mark in South Africa
• Songworks has won a Rockschool National Award for achieving the Highest Overall Marks in an Exam Session on no fewer than 8 occasions
• Songworks has won more Rockschool National Awards than any other music school or studio in South Africa.

CONTACT US for further information or if you would like to enrol with Songworks.

We look forward to welcoming you to our Studio.

Tracy and Steve Stark