The Paul Green School of Rock doesn't have much in common with the Jack Black flick, "School of Rock."
Green isn't the Black character Dewey Finn, a loser musician who cons his way into a prep school to teach music and take his underage band to a battle-of-the-bands contest. Green is the real deal, a music teacher who wants to make a difference in the lives of his students.
"I teach music in Philadelphia, and I'm not one of those disgruntled musicians who teach music because they can't get a job," Green said with a laugh while driving a rental van on the way to the Los Angeles airport to pick up some students. "I wanted to get the students together for a Saturday afternoon jam, to help them incorporate the theories that I've taught them. But I found out during those jam sessions that everything I taught them had gone through one ear and out the other. So, I decided to continue the sessions until they could do better."
That was back in 1998. Today, Green's School of Rock has been in extension mode and is gearing up to open other campuses in New York and San Francisco. The school has been written about in numerous articles in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Mojo and Spin magazines. It will soon be featured on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and is the subject of a feature-length documentary, "Rock School," which was produced by Sheena M. Joyce and Don Argot.
"The only thing I'm uneasy with is this fully self-serving billing," said Green of his school's name. "It just came up one day when we decided to take the students on a tour. The promoter asked what we were called and I off-handedly said 'Paul Green's School of Rock.' Unfortunately, the name stuck because we thought it was going to be just a one-time deal."
Some six years later, the school is still going strong. The curriculum is geared to all kinds of skill levels. Out of the six-plus schools that are set up throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Green has chosen 27 kids, ages 13 to 18, to embark on this tour. "There were 27 worthy of this tour, but the important thing was, all the students in the school learn about music. And through that they learn organizational skills, communication skills and their self-esteem is strengthened. There's nothing like seeing a child struggle with a piece and then, after hours of practice, something finally clicks, and they get it. Their faces show their feelings, and it is amazing."
And while Green has a staff of faculty, he said one of the best workshops the school has offered was one with guitarist Napoleon Murphy Brock, formerly of Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention. "He did a seminar with the kids in Philly, and the kids really connected with him. This was someone who had actually been in the business, and it was something real to the students. I had told them, 'If you don't listen to me, will you at least listen to him?' "
If you go. . .
What: Paul Green's School of Rock tour
Where: Sugarbeats, 2106 S. 1100 East
When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
How much: $12.50 advance, $15 day of show
Phone: 467-8499 or 1-800-888-8499
E-mail: scott@desnews.com