Paul Green (musician)

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Paul Green

Photo by photographer and director Myriam Santos
Background information
Birth name Paul Green
Born July 9, 1972 (1972-07-09) (age 39)
Origin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres Hard rock, alternative rock, progressive rock, folk rock, pop rock, R&B, soul
Occupations Singer, songwriter, record producer, record executive film producer, director, screenwriter, entrepreneur, philanthropist
Instruments Guitar, bass
Years active 1998–present
Website radiowoodstock.com

Paul Green (born July 9, 1972) is an American record producer, film producer, director, screenwriter, singer-songwriter, music teacher, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who founded School of Rock (formerly known as The Paul Green School of Rock Music), a performance-based music program for kids. This for-profit educational company operates and sponsors franchises for after-school music instructional programs in the United States.

First established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1998 by Paul Green, schools have opened in states including New York, Utah, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Maryland, Oregon, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Colorado, Delaware, Washington, New Jersey, and North Carolina and internationally in Mexico. In 2005, the company was the subject of a documentary film titled Rock School. In early 2010, Paul Green left the Paul Green School of Rock Music, which is now known as The School of Rock.

On August 9, 2011, the Woodstock Film Festival announced that Green has moved to the Woodstock, New York area and has joined as the Music Coordinator. He is also working with Woodstock Festival co-founder Michael Lang in founding a music college in the Woodstock area.[1] Green has also launched a weekly rock radio show on Radio Woodstock 100.1 WDST called "The Tool Shed with Paul Green" that airs on Saturday evenings from 7-9pm and streams online at RadioWoodstock.com.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Green was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and left home at 15. As a teenager Paul played in rock bands and eventually started teaching guitar to put himself through college. At age 25 he started The Paul Green School of Rock Music.

[edit] The Paul Green School of Rock Music

In 1998 Paul started giving guitar lessons to pay his way through college. At first he was giving "standard theory-based” lessons, but eventually he began inviting his students to jam at his studio on the weekends. What Paul realized was that although his kids were learning the material he was assigning them, when it came to playing with others they were poor at best. This discovery led Paul to insist that the students show up every weekend and learn to play together and make music.

After several weeks of these weekend jams, the students were vastly improved and were ready to show off what they had been practicing. As luck would have it, Paul's friend was having an art gallery opening and asked Paul to have his students play. The performance was a huge success and The Paul Green School of Rock Music was soon formed.

The program consists of year-round, weekly individual lessons as well as full band rehearsals for seasonal shows. Instructors are encouraged to stress the fundamentals of both popular music and music theory in their teaching. There are many teachers per school, all specializing in at least one instrument, often more. Instruction is available in the following areas: electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboards, and vocals. Students are encouraged to play other instruments as well, with instruction from other sources. Students learn songs from popular bands/artists like Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, 80's hair metal, punk, and grunge. Those songs are eventually played at themed live shows held throughout the year.

There are occasional workshops featuring accomplished musicians, and the artists will include discussions about their past experiences, songwriting, live performance and fame in general. To be admitted, students generally must be between the ages of 7 and 18. No musical training or experience is necessary to attend the school.

[edit] The film: Rock School

Rock School is a documentary about Paul Green and The Paul Green School of Rock Music. The documentary exhibits the school through the eyes of its founder, Paul Green. A New York Magazine film critic said "Paul Green is letting his students in on a secret of life that goes beyond school, even stuff that looks easy is hard to do well". The film displays him showing off his wide variety of teaching tactics and also how the school affects the lives of the students that attend. Paul Green is seen several times jumping up and down, screaming at kids, and kicking students, all in order to teach them. As Ken Tucker the NPR Rock critic says it "I'd hand out DVDs of Rock School to everyone in the country with a teaching degree and dare them to match this level of commitment."[2]

[edit] The Annual Paul Green School of Rock Festival

In June 2007, Paul unveiled his first School of Rock festival. The two day event at the Jersey Shore in Asbury Park, New Jersey, attracted almost 10,000 people and served as the quintessential example of the School's initial hopes: music education for young musicians through live performances. The festival consisted of 400 kids The Paul Green School of Rock Music branches across the nation on stages side by side with headlining acts such as Ween, Bad Brains, the Benevento/Russo Duo and New Jersey's own, the Bouncing Souls. Special events included a lecture from Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys fame and a shred contest sponsored by PRS Guitars.

The 2008 festival was held over the course of three days from June 27 to June 29 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The entire festival included themed shows from Schools as far west as California as well as the now-independent bands of former students. The All-Stars performed before the headlining acts on each day. The first day was held at the Electric Factory with performances by Andrew W.K. and the Butthole Surfers. The Festival Pier at Penn's Landing hosted the final two days with the Hold Steady and Devo on Saturday and Goldfinger, Less Than Jake and the Dropkick Murphys on Sunday. There was also a Shred Contest sponsored by Gibson Guitars, won by a Princeton SOR student named Russell Chell.

Each school though has different values and uses different ways of organizing their shows. For example: The Boston School of Rock run by Bill Galatis and Anderson Mar does not have a best of season show.

[edit] Paul Green's All-Stars

After a few years of running his school Paul decided to create the "All-Stars Program". All-Stars are a group of the best students from the entirety of the program, all across the country, handpicked from schools in the program through auditions. They go on tour to play such venues as BB Kings in Times Square, The Knitting Factory in LA and NYC, The Roxy and Crash Mansion in LA, Stubbs in Austin, Hard Rock Cafes, House of Blues, and many of the biggest festivals in the country such as Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, along with many others.

They often tour and play with famous musicians from rock's past and present, such as The Butthole Surfers, Slash, Les Paul, Brendon Small, LeAnn Rimes, C. J. Tywoniak, Perry Farrell, Jon Anderson, Peter Frampton, Eddie Vedder, Alice Cooper, Adrian Belew, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Stewart Copeland, John Wetton, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Ike Willis, and Ann Wilson. Tryouts are held once a year, usually in September. The audition requirements include one Led Zeppelin song with a backing band, and one solo song of their choice. The All-Stars consist of five nationally touring groups.

[edit] Musical Collaborations With Paul Green School of Rock

Paul Green and\or the Paul Green School of Rock have collaborated with the following artists

[edit] See also

Main article: The Paul Green School of Rock Music
Main article: Studio House Records

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Paul Green Joins Woodstock Film Festival as Music Coordinator". IndieWire. http://www.indiewire.com/article/paul_green_joins_woodstock_film_festival_as_music_coordinator/. Retrieved 19 October 2011. "Green recently moved to Woodstock and is currently working with Michael Lang, co-creator of the 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Festival, on the early phases of building a world renown music college right here in Woodstock." 
  2. ^ Tucker, Ken. The Real School of Rock, on Film, Fresh Air from WHYY: NPR 6 June 2005. Retrieved on 2005-06-06.

[edit] External links

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