By: Maria Allard | Warren Weekly | Published April 21, 2026
WARREN — A “Seven Nation Army” marched into the music studio classroom at Carlson Elementary School this year.
The song, by the garage rock duo the White Stripes, is among the many pieces of music fifth graders have learned on acoustic guitar through the program Lead Guitar. For the past two years, Carlson has been in a partnership with Lead Guitar, a nonprofit organization that provides music education to schools at no cost.
Lead Guitar follows a classroom-based learning method designed to engage the students. Onur Alakavuklar, Lead Guitar regional director for Detroit, comes to Carlson every Monday afternoon to teach the fifth-grade students acoustic guitar, music fundamentals, about composers and more. Carlson is part of the Van Dyke Public Schools district.
“We create guitar ensembles with the urban areas. We just want them to follow our curriculum,” said Alakavuklar, who added the Detroit region also works with several schools in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.
“We’re all here to play music. It teaches discipline and understanding of each other. We’re trying to create a culture of music,” he said. “There’s camaraderie with the music. They help each other. They become best friends. I just love seeing their improvement and development.”
There are two classes to accommodate all 51 Carlson students. The students also attend general music class once a week with teacher Dorothy Hause, so Lead Guitar is an added bonus. Lead Guitar provides all the instruments, and the budding musicians call Alakavuklar “Mr. O.”
“I love it. There are different ability levels,” Hause said. “We are going over note reading and the fundamentals of music.”
When Alakavuklar greeted the students April 13, they picked up their acoustic guitars, sat in their seats and got into playing position.
“Let’s warm up. Make sure you warm up your hands and shoulders. First string, second string. Let’s do this as we were to perform,” said Alakavuklar, as the group began to play and sing the nursery rhyme that begins with “one, two, buckle my shoe.”
“Fire Dance,” “Ode to Joy,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” and “Jingles Bells” are other songs in the students’ repertoire. Alakavuklar also recently introduced them to “Duerme mi tesoro,” which he said is a Puerto Rican lullaby.
At the end of class, Alakavuklar played a video of an ensemble performing “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
“How many guitar melodies do you hear right now?” Alakavuklar asked.
The Carlson students will take center stage when they perform live April 29 at Wayne State University. Their parents are invited to attend the show, which will include group numbers, ensemble pieces and solo performances.
Student Mila White thinks the program is “really good.”
“I’ve been learning more and more songs as I go,” White said. “I just have to use some notes I learn from music.”
For the Wayne State show, White said she and classmate Aubree Ward plan to sing “Ordinary.”
Student Zayden Czebieniak gives the guitar class a rating of 9.5 out of 10.
“It’s fun to learn from Mr. O. I like ‘Ode to Joy’ because we’re switching between notes a lot,” he said. “This one field trip, we went to Sterling Heights (High School) for a concert.”
Czebieniak said he has an electric guitar at home, plays the drums and listens to different kinds of music.
“I like metal,” he said. “Linkin Park, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne.”
Christopher Downey likes the class but said sometimes the music is “not that easy to do.”
“Mr. O. helps us practice the notes and learn the songs so we can do them,” Downey said.
He said he’s going “to be in band at Lincoln Middle School” playing the trumpet.
According to the Lead Guitar website, leadguitar.org, the organization was founded by Brad Richter and Marc Sandroff in 1999. The website states Lead Guitar improves student grades, graduation rates, resilience and life skills by delivering free in-school guitar programs to kids facing significant socioeconomic challenges or other barriers to experiencing the transformative power of making music.
“Every learner of every ability and background has access to engaging, relevant music education in their neighborhood school, and contributes to a culture of music making and mentorship that ripples through their community,” the website states.