AURORA | They weren’t getting pointers on their cartwheels or learning to shred on an electric guitar, but these students were still learning about the essentials of rock and roll.
Sisters Rachel Autry, 16, and Nina Autry, 12, were playing the bass and guitar lines for Blink-182’s “All the Small Things,” and Stephan Hume was keeping a watchful eye on their progress. Perched behind a drum kit in a rehearsal
Music teacher Stephan Hume rocks out on the drums with his students March 22 at Band Dynamics in Littleton. Band Dynamics in Littleton is just one of many local rock schools that are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. A School of Rock franchise is set to open in Aurora in May, students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Evan Todd, 12, slaps his base during class March 22 at Band Dynamics in Littleton. Band Dynamics in Littleton is just one of many local rock schools that are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. A School of Rock franchise is set to open in Aurora in May, students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Members of the band Gemini rock out to an original song during class March 22 at Band Dynamics in Littleton. Band Dynamics in Littleton is just one of many local rock schools that are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. A School of Rock franchise is set to open in Aurora in May, students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Members of the band Gemini rock out to an original song during class March 22 at Band Dynamics in Littleton. Band Dynamics in Littleton is just one of many local rock schools that are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. A School of Rock franchise is set to open in Aurora in May, students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Bass player Evan Todd, 12, rocks out during class March 22 at Band Dynamics in Littleton. Band Dynamics in Littleton is just one of many local rock schools that are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. A School of Rock franchise is set to open in Aurora in May, students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Quinn Hudson plays guitar with his band during class March 22 at Band Dynamics in Littleton. Band Dynamics in Littleton is just one of many local rock schools that are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. A School of Rock franchise is set to open in Aurora in May, students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Quinn Hudson, 12, jams with his band during class March 22 at Band Dynamics in Littleton. Band Dynamics in Littleton is just one of many local rock schools that are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. A School of Rock franchise is set to open in Aurora in May, students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
(From left to right) Quinn Hudson, Alec Hudson, and Evan Todd rehearse an original song during class March 22 at Band Dynamics in Littleton. Band Dynamics in Littleton is just one of many local rock schools that are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. A School of Rock franchise is set to open in Aurora in May, students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Quinn Hudson, 12, plugs in his electric guitar for class March 22 at Band Dynamics in Littleton. Band Dynamics in Littleton is just one of many local rock schools that are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. A School of Rock franchise is set to open in Aurora in May, students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Brothers Alec (left) and Quinn (right) Hudson, 12, talk to their teacher before class March 22 at Band Dynamics in Littleton. Band Dynamics in Littleton is just one of many local rock schools that are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. A School of Rock franchise is set to open in Aurora in May, students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Rachel Autry, 16, practices the guitar March 22 at Band Dynamics in Littleton. Band Dynamics in Littleton is just one of many local rock schools that are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. A School of Rock franchise is set to open in Aurora in May, students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
A guitar clock and various drumsticks decorate a classroom March 22 at Band Dynamics in Littleton. Band Dynamics in Littleton is just one of many local rock schools that are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. A School of Rock franchise is set to open in Aurora in May, students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Instructor Stephan Hume (left) rocks out with his students March 22 at Band Dynamics in Littleton. Band Dynamics in Littleton is just one of many local rock schools that are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. A School of Rock franchise is set to open in Aurora in May, students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
room at the Band Dynamics music school in Littleton, Hume led a pair of students through a stripped-down version of the tune. As he beat out the steady, 4/4 rhythm of the pop-rock ballad, he called out chord changes. Once the trio wrapped up, Hume told his students that the heart of the tune was its simplicity.
“We just learned almost all of Blink-182’s career,” he joked, pointing out that much of the band’s catalogue boiled down to three or four chords. “Music, to be good, doesn’t need to be complicated.”
Hume, the owner and manager of Band Dynamics, is just one of many modern music instructors who are taking a different approach to teaching the fundamentals. At Band Dynamics and other rock and roll schools across the metro area, the emphasis isn’t on memorizing scales by rote or perfecting that classical piano sonata for the yearly recital. Here, the students are encouraged to turn up the volume, crank the distortion and emulate the example of masters like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Jethro Tull.
“Our slogan is, ‘Play to your potential.’ Our philosophy, our approach is to make the kids be the best they can, to find their inner potential,” said Hume, who cofounded Band Dynamics in a garage about seven years ago. “Music happens to be the conduit for that, and rock music is the most popular music we teach.”
Hume cites the role of rock and roll – heavy metal to be specific – in his own upbringing, insisting that it helped him get through abuse and trauma as a teenager. He says Band Dynamics is a place where students can learn to play the music they love in a safe and encouraging environment, a two-story office space off South Broadway in Littleton. They even get a chance to play legitimate gigs for large audiences. Band Dynamics students regularly perform at the Soiled Dove Underground rock club in Lowry and other local venues. The school’s themed performances have included tributes to Radiohead and the Seattle grunge sound; they’ve featured original songs penned by students.
“We’re trying to be really creative with the themes that we pick. The last one we had was ‘The Phantom of the Opera,’” Hume said. “The Soiled Dove is my favorite place to take them. They really get that feel of being famous.”
That kind of participatory model that’s gained a lot of traction in the past decade, thanks in part to a large-scale corporate success story. In 2002, Philadelphia music teacher Paul Green took out a loan for $7,000 to open a large-scale music school with a focus on rock and roll. Green’s model would spread quickly, thanks to documentaries and an unintentional association with the 2003 film “School of Rock.” School of Rock franchises opened in California, New York, Texas and Utah. Sterling Partners bought out the business in 2005, and the company has thousands of part-time employees in franchise locations from Denver to Brazil.
One of the largest franchise locations in Colorado is set to open its doors to Aurora students in May. General Manager Ron Willard is finalizing the details on a
School of Rock location off Parker Road in southeast Aurora. The 3,100-square-foot school on East Rice Place is set to include three band rooms, a recording studio and community space. Enrollment costs will run between $200 and $300 a month, Wilard said.
“What we see for our vision is that the school becomes a community for the kids. Their interest is music, their interest is rock and roll,” said Willard, an Aurora resident who works for a local construction company. Willard will manage the school with his wife, a longtime teacher in the Cherry Creek School District. “A lot of times, kids interested in music are playing in their bedroom practicing for hours … This gives kids anywhere from 7 years and up a chance to be part of a band.”
Willard said the school’s staff will include seasoned professional musicians, and that enrollment for the first round of classes is set to kick off in May. He’s hoping to launch student performances at rock venues by the end of the summer, and he’s envisioning themed shows that pay tribute to classic rock acts like Led Zeppelin and more contemporary outfits like Nirvana.
“The School of Rock has a lot of material that they provide you, but they’re not real strict about forcing you to stick to the plan,” Willard said. “They are open to new ideas, and they are continually testing new ideas. That’s exciting.”
That was a big part of the appeal of opening a franchise for Willard, a drummer who’s kept up side gigs as a musician even as he’s worked a day job and raised a family in Aurora. The bigger lure, however, came in the prospect of building a community center built around the music he’s loved since childhood.
“I think it’s everybody’s fantasy to play guitar, and when you get onstage it is fun,” Willard said. “We’re still producing rock music 50 years after it started. Rock is going to be around forever.”
Part of that may have to do with the simplicity of the music, the kind of primal lure that Hume so lovingly detailed for his students in Littleton. That spirit was hard to miss as the members of Gemini – a quartet of 12-year-olds – filed into a rehearsal room at the Littleton facility and started warming up. Through explosive covers of Rage Against the Machine songs and powerful original tunes, the young musicians showed they’ve already learned the power and promise of rock and roll.
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720-449-9707
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YEP…..only to be spit out of the poop shute of american idol.