Cover Story
T
ime moves on and technology moves forward. There used to be a video store at 2645 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto, but the video stores are bowing out. Now the Midtown spot houses a shiny new rock-music school, blasting with giant wall photos of head-banging kids. Still, even the people who get their kicks on Netflix know the saying “Everything
allac W a c c e b e R y b
old is new again.” At the School of Rock, where the paint smells fresh after four months, kids learn the classics. The Beatles, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd keep rocking on. Walk down the hall and you hear familiar guitar licks from decades ago mixed with kids laughing, basses tuning up, a drumstick clattering on the floor. When beginners start lessons, they’re
e Veronica Weber
, kebox, baby ju e th in e dim Put another eep playing k o h w s id k f Rock age for School o in the iTunes s ic s s la c e th
given one of the core tunes that owner and general manager Hansel Lynn picked. Before you know it, you’ve got a 7-year-old warbling “Lean on Me” or wondering why it is, exactly, that we all live in a yellow submarine. It can take time for kids to get it. Lynn, sporting an affable grin and a “Keep Calm and Rock On” T-shirt, thinks of one 10-
year-old boy. “He had no experience, and a guitar takes coordination,” he said. “Every day I’d say, ‘Show me the G chord.’” Struggles ensued, but Lynn had faith. The kid had long hair and a rocker mentality. He could do it. Then he did. With practice, the boy found the chords just clicked. Formerly quiet, he even started belting out songs. Lynn has lots of stories like these, even though the school’s been open only since January. Kids start shy and end up wailing on the guitar, or show up late for every rehearsal until suddenly they start wanting to do their part, to be a team with their bandmates. What happens? Lynn smiles. “Rock ‘n’ roll.” Like people everywhere in the music world, from piano teachers to orchestra conductors, the folks at School of Rock will tell you that becoming a performing musician helps kids build confidence as well as artistry, and learn cooperation as well as chords. These guys just do it louder. The Palo Alto venue is one of more than 100 School of Rock locations sprinkled across the country and as far as Canada, (continued on page 35)
Veronica Weber
Seven-year-old Jacob Mishaga, top, learns to play the guitar in a beginning guitar private lesson at the School of Rock. Left, Music director Andrew Levin, center, listens as Josh Poblete plays the bass with Gabe Cohen on guitar as the young musicians rehearse together.
ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ >ÞÊ£Ç]ÊÓä£ÎÊU Page 33