For years, students as young as 5 and as old as 70  have come together under one roof to share their love of music.

Whether it was for individual lessons with an instructor or a large band practice, students have learned to call the School of Rock in Broomfield their “home away from home.”

But in March, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck Colorado, the school’s eight lesson rooms and two rehearsal rooms that traditionally echoed with the sounds of guitars, drums, singers and laughter became silent.

“Our business model and our community is pretty social and so much of what we do is group based, and our school is sort of a hangout location for some of our students, and that all went away overnight,” said Jennifer Moriarta, the owner of School of Rock Broomfield.

“Even though there were a lot of changes happening so fast, we knew that we had to adjust quickly, so we moved our lessons to a remote or online platform and luckily everyone seemed to pivot rather fast.”

But despite the locally owned school having to change its business model essentially overnight, many students and parents said the transition was a lot smoother than other businesses.

“I thought it was going to be difficult, because, in my one-on-one individual lessons, (my instructor) is right there to show me what I can do better if I’m struggling, but (remote sessions) turned out to be really easy,” said Sophia Bressler, a four-year bass guitar student at the school.

“They definitely made it a lot easier to learn music online (compared to) normal school.”

Moriarta owns the Broomfield music school at 11970 Quay St. on the southern end of town, but having the assistance from the national School of Rock helped her brain-storm ideas to get things done right, she said.

From a parent’s perspective, Tina Tharp, whose son Nate, has been enrolled in the School of Rock for the last six years, said constant communication helped ease the transition.

“Communication was the big thing and (Moriarta) was very generous and great about sending emails, explaining the changes, the new rules and what the changes were at the given time,” Tina Tharp said.

“The communication was really big with her and the school and it made it really easy to transition for my son.”

In June, the school was allowed to reopen its doors to their students and staff members But after lengthy discussions with officials from their corporate location, a lot of changes were made. (More than 250 School of Rock locations have opened around the globe since its founding in 1998, including one this fall in Colorado Springs.)

Various rooms at the Broomfield school were rearranged to accommodate a smaller number of musicians practicing, a rehearsal class space was shifted into a singers-only room to allow them to sing — while socially distanced — without a mask, and some students started learning new instruments to fill the void left by the lack of band members.

“Everything just looks completely different now, but we made all of these changes to allow our students to safely perform together in-person,” Moriarta said.

Changes were also required for end of the season performances, where students traditionally gather around and rock out in front of family members and friends.

“It was a little weird because normally you are looking into a crowd, but this time it was cameras or walls, but it worked out great. There was still the same energy and experience, but everything was virtual,” said drummer and guitarist Nate Tharp.

And it allowed more viewers than ever before.

“It was nice because we have family members that live in the Philippines and they’ve never gotten to hear (my daughter) play music before, but by holding a virtual ceremony they were able to attend for the first time,” said Scott Bressler, Sophia’s father.

Despite the school’s successes, it hasn’t all been good news during the pandemic. Moriarta said at least 30 students have dropped out out of the school and profit margins are down between 20% and 25% — and could get worse during the winter months.

“Everything has kind of bounced around a bit since March, but April and May probably hit us the hardest, like many other organizations. But we’re bracing ourselves for a rough winter, but are optimistic,” Moriarta said.

At the school’s peak, Moriarta says she had well over 200 students enrolled and playing instruments of all kinds. But as of Dec. 19, she believed there to only be around 170 students enrolled.

“There’s sort of a balance between our students where most of them believe in the online model, while a certain percent of other students don’t feel it’s as productive as in-person,” she said.

But despite the the negatives, the biggest thing to the students, staff, students and parents is the little break away from reality that each individual lesson, band rehearsal or performance gives.

“It’s felt like I’ve been working nonstop since the beginning of the pandemic, and since we’re not allow to really go anywhere or do anything, just having the ability to hang out, play music and still be in touch with my community is a major relief,” said Jesus Ortiz Tovar, an adult bass guitar student.