It’s a ‘hard-rock’ life

Paul Green’s school comes to Rochester

By Jennifer S. McDonald
C & G Staff Writer

ROCHESTER — It’s been a long time since Rochester rock ‘n’ rolled, and following up on the lyrics of a Led Zeppelin tune, the city will get it back now that the Paul Green School of Rock Music is moving in.

The school is enrolling aspiring musicians ages 7-17, said chief music officer for the Rochester School of Rock Terry Longhway. The company’s first Michigan location aims to be filled with young people capturing the forces of past rock ‘n’ roll gods akin to the Doors, Pink Floyd, Van Halen, the Beatles and Frank Zappa.

The classics of these music moguls will be used as the curriculum to teach students in the performance-based program guitar, drums, keyboard, bass and vocals.

Longhway, who will run the school along with his wife, Meggan, said it was an opportunity that literally fell into his lap. After moving around the country for almost 30 years as an IT program manager, he needed to figure out what to do with his life and “drop anchor,”  especially since he has a family.

He decided to move to Rochester, where his father currently resides, and contact Philadelphia musician and founder of the original School of Rock Paul Green about a job. He was surprised at Green’s reply.

“I love children and I love rock music. I play in a band, so I came up with a business plan to do a music school for kids,” Longhway said. “I wrote him an e-mail and literally said my name’s Terry Longhway and that this was something I’ve wanted to do my whole life. … It was full-steam ahead from there. The next thing you know I’m starting the first Paul Green School of Rock in Michigan.”

The program, which Green started in 1998, has 30 branches nationwide, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. It has been the subject for the documentary “Rock School,” which debuted at Sundance in 2005, and has also served as the alleged inspiration for Jack Black’s comedy, “School of Rock.”

So when Longhway e-mailed Green, who has plans to open 70 new schools by the end of 2008, Green added Rochester to the list, also enlisting the help of Michigan-bred guitarist and drummer Eugene Strobe, who will serve as the Rochester school’s director of music.          

“I’ve always loved people and I love to teach, so I thought, why not combine those with something else I love — music,” Strobe said. “This seems to be a great opportunity to be a part of a great thing that will help kids express themselves in a new and fun way, musically.

“I also think to enhance the lives of kids through  music is something that will be a wonderful experience, and this is something they’ll be able to take with them and use for the rest of their lives.”

The school, which operates on an open enrollment admissions process for three semesters out of the year, accepts 200 students. The tuition of $250 a month covers an average of 16 hours of lessons and rehearsals with the instrument of the student’s choice, as well as weekly lessons and rehearsals including songwriting and the music business, and how to get gigs and prepare for a tour.

At the end of each semester, students are “tested” during a live rock show at a local venue, complete with stagecraft, strobe lights and smoke machines. Longhway said part of the school’s goal is to create performers.

“That’s a big thing about the school — the performance aspect,” Longhway said. “It’s let’s go do a big concert, not just practice. As a business or school, we want to be a viable entertainment outlet. We know our kids are good. Let’s show the world.”

Longhway said the school strives to instill in its students self-confidence, the ability to communicate with adults and a sense of responsibility.

“Minimally what these kids are going to get is an awesome experience while they’re in junior high and high school,” Longhway said.

Whether a student is a beginner or a self-proclaimed natural, Longhway said every individual will learn something.

An open house for the Paul Green School of Rock Rochester will take place from noon to 5 p.m. at 415 Walnut Blvd. Dec. 30. The School of Rock All-Stars, a group of students from the school’s branches nationwide, will participate in a benefit concert for the Children’s Miracle Network that same day at a location to be announced.

For more information, visit www.schoolofrock.com or contact Longhway at Rochester@schoolofrock.com or (248) 925-6198.