This high school’s ‘School of Rock’ gives musically inclined students a new creative outlet By Bill Burke
I
t’s the end of the school day at Timberlane Regional High School and the halls are filled with students rushing from classrooms, making afternoon plans and piling onto buses for the ride home. When things begin to clear, however, the sound of a single guitar begins to echo through the recently deserted hallways. Notes bend and skip up and down the fret board as Alexander Gray, a senior at the Plaistow school, tears through a note-for-note version of Sublime’s “Santeria” on his Fender Telecaster as his fellow bandmates begin to arrive. It’s a typical Wednesday, which means it’s rehearsal day for the Timberlane Rock Ensemble. For a good 90 minutes at this time every week, the school’s Performing Arts Center becomes southern New Hampshire’s own “school of rock.” For four years now, a rotating roster of musicians have tuned-up, plugged-in and rocked through set lists ranging from Santana to the Rolling Stones – all under the guidance of music teacher John Zevos. “It’s something that’s not really being done,” Zevos said of the unique after-school program. “It’s just another one of our strengths here – the amount of different offerings that we have. I don’t think there’s a lot of high schools around that are doing this kind of thing. “We meet once a week and we do amazingly well for just getting together once a week,” Zevos continues as other students arrive to set up equipment. “I think this is an important kind of music that I hope expands their horizons a little bit, and is still a good learning experience at the same time.” His influence has rubbed off on at least a few of the musicians. “I’ve been listening to the Beatles my whole life,” said Demetrius Shew, a sophomore from Sandown who cites John Lennon as his favorite guitarist. “But Mr. Zevos has been showing me new songs that I really like, so it’s pretty awesome.” Zevos – who also teaches music theory, guitar 1, guitar 2, guitar orchestra and assists with the school’s orchestra – draws from his own musical past to guide the young rockers. “I get charts from a guy in New York City and then I see what we have for instrumentation and I go from there,” Zevos said. As the rest of the group arrives – Justin Livingston on drums; Gray, Shew and Brendan Kelley on guitar, Rachel Paradis on keyboard and Nick Pigott on vocals – Zevos gets them focused on attempting the Beatles’ “Lady Madonna.” Before trying the song for the first time, Zevos talks the group through the sheet music, pointing out codas, returns and making sure each student is comfortable with the arrangement. He counts them off, Paradis provides the lively intro, and the rest jump right in. “Playing ’Lady Madonna’ has been the most challenging so far,” Paradis said of her key role in the song. “In the past I’ve had more of an organ part where there are more chords and figuring out patterns. This part is the signature of the song. I start it out by myself so I knew I had to get this down.” Learning that focus is just one of the benefits of making like a Beatle, said Bill Melanson, owner of Northstar Music in East Hampstead. “The kids get so much out of learning to play an instrument,” Melanson said. “They learn determination, they learn practice
10 www.parentingnh.com february 2017