Rock School: Tirades, Hammer-Ons and Guitar Solo Speed While Preaching The Gospel of RAWK!


The documentary Rock School is a worth watching, as it, to a degree, follows in the wake of the great spelling bee doc Spellbound -- interesting kids with a challenge in front of them can often equal a great movie. However, the focus in School is primarily on the teacher, Paul Green. Green is a Philadelphia musician who started having kids come by his apartment to show them the ways of rock. Within in a few years, he went from sporadically teaching 17 children to having an actual rock school of roughly 120 youngsters between the ages of 9 and 17.

Who Green is and what he teaches are really interesting to me. There were a few places where the film dragged a bit, but overall, it was diverting, mixing talking heads (Green, some of the kids, some of the parents, and others), verite looks at the ‘classroom', and live performances by the students. The arc of the movie is getting various students ready for performances -- a Black Sabbath tribute, performed by mostly novices, a salute to guitar gods, and, for the most advanced students, a trip to a 2003 Frank Zappa festival, where the kids were slotted on a bill between a group featuring former Zappa vocalist/guitar player Ike Willis and a band featuring former Zappa flutist/vocalist Napoleon Murphy Brock.

What separates from the ordinary feel good movie is Green. Ofttimes, he's kind of a dick. And he is certainly pretty full of himself. There are a couple of points, during interview sequences, where his philosophizing enters David Brent territory (Note: this is the lead character of the BBC comedy The Office, who can be laughably pretentious). But he also has a compelling energy that must be all the more engaging in person.

Then there's the kids. Three are particularly compelling. There's Madi Diaz-Svalgard, a subtly pretty Quaker high school student, who, at the beginning of the film, shows off coffeehouse skills and professes devotion to Sheryl Crow. She and Green are frequently at loggerheads throughout the picture. Then there's C.J. Tywoniak, a pre-teen Eddie Van Halen. The movie begins with some students on stage playing "Black Magic Woman". I heard those familiar Carlos Santana guitar notes and think, "wow, they really sprung for the music licensing!" Then director Don Argott pulls in tight, and I realized that C.J. was pulling off this great solo. He's an adorable kid with lightning fingers, who's demeanor is a bit like Joe Pernice on stage.

Finally, there's Will O'Connor. You couldn't have cast a better teenage outcast. Early on, O'Connor chronicles his battles with depression and problems in school, with a dark wit. Argott had to know he hit paydirt with O'Connor. This bright kid with little musical talent has a love-hate relationship with Green, and is somewhat of a control group, as he provides a lot of insight on Green and his methods.

Green's methods are not NEA approved. One of the first things Green says in the movie is that he has a special ability to teach kids. However, the movie shows that Green is not some master psychologist, nor does he have some novel approach to teaching. If anything, Green's methods are more on par with a high school football coach. There are quite a few scenes in the movie where Green is yelling and swearing at students, railing at them about mistakes and lack of preparation. These episodes are particularly heated when they involve Diaz-Svalgard.

Green sees these episodes as pushing these kids to be the best. Which is exactly what a high school football coach would say. I was torn about watching Green's explosions. On one hand, I get the feeling that nowadays, there aren't many teachers who really demand a lot out of students, due to the current culture and just being so swamped with work they don't have the energy to do so. On the other hand, I've got to think there's a better way to inspire excellence than being an asshole.

Yet Green's bad behavior is mitigated by other scenes which show that he hasn't lost touch with his inner teen. Indeed, some interviewees suggest he's just a child -- I disagree with that. But Green does have the ability to talk to kids at their level, or, even better, to talk to them as if they are at his level. Often this comes in the form of humor, and there's a bit where he, with two younger students, recreates a Vietnam war drama, that I found funny. Moreover, you could see how much fun the kids were having.

Green's methods and the kid's reactions and how they push themselves are the heart of the movie. Yet there was an unintended underlying theme that came out. Green's big push is to get the kids to play at the Zappa festival. Ultimately, they play "Inca Roads" with Zappa sideman Napoleon Murphy Brock on flute and vocals. The performance is certainly impressive, and Brock and other musicians are effusive in their praise of the Rock Schoolers.
What Brock and Green both emphasize is how the students didn't just learn Zappa -- they took on his most technically challenging songs. Brock notes how seeing teenagers play these songs that took Zappa's band so long to perfect gave him a new perspective on the music. Brock now sees the music as being something that can teach. Which, to an extent, is true.

Yet this focus on the music of Zappa begs the question of what is really being taught in Rock School. I can appreciate how Zappa blended styles and music forms and the intricacy of his compositions. But is that at the heart of rock? As great as CJ's guitar playing is, and as passionately as he plays, is it really expressive? I'm concerned that Green has exalted form over substance. He is teaching kids technique and flash. Yet, I'm not sure this will actually make them great musicians in the long run.

This is part of a larger debate of how important proficiency is in rock. Too often, it actually is a debate. There are people who seriously believe that poor instrumental skills can make for better rock. I guess it's more ‘real' that way. That's a crock. Great skills and playing ability can open up new vistas of creativity. Therein lies the flaw in Rock School -- not the movie, which I certainly recommend, but the school itself. Green is going to churn out a lot of kids who can play like the dickens -- or, should I say, like the devil. But, based on what I saw in the movie, there doesn't seem to be much room for creativity.

Green is molding the kids into his vision of rock. That vision is obviously centered a great deal around the idea that the more complex a song is, the better it is (which is a somewhat unfair comment, I'm sure, but based on the movie, I'll stick by it). While the kids are rewarded by a sense of accomplishment, they are ultimately just doing what their told. Which is how it usually works in high school football. The coach screams at you, you the run the play.

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