Avon's Own 'School of Rock'

The Beatles changed Paul Howard's life.

After hearing the renowned British rock group on the Ed Sullivan Show as a teenager, Howard wanted to play music. "In My Life" is his favorite Beatles song.

He started at age 13 on guitar and now he has been teaching rock and bluegrass guitar music since 1972.

Howard has taught in the building he now shares with Carpetland on Route 44 in Avon for about 30 years. Clavier Music, a piano and organ repair store, used to be there. Howard taught lessons while his friend, George Sullivan, who has since died, ran Valley Music in the building. The space was renovated two years ago and about a year ago, Howard was looking for a new name for his music school. He chose to keep "Valley Music" in the title in honor of his good friend, Sullivan.

"I wanted to keep George's legacy going," Howard said.

Six months ago, Howard expanded his guitar school to encompass more instruments. He took on Avon resident Tim Maynard to teach classical and electric guitar, Gale Gardiner to teach piano and autoharp, and Tido Holtkamp to teach percussion. Just two weeks ago, Howard also recruited Avon resident Josh Long to teach woodwinds.

The most challenging thing about learning guitar for many people, Howard said, is that it "requires a certain amount of finger dexterity," so the physical component is tough. Guitar is more than plucking a string, as it requires finding the right tone, which changes depending on technique. Rhythm is also key to guitar playing, and that is something that is more internal, so it is a tough skill to teach.

Howard alone typically has up to 40 students and teaches 30 hours of guitar and bass a week on Mondays to Thursdays. Thirty percent of his students are over 25, and the rest are children and teenagers, so he teaches a range of talent levels, from beginners to adults that played guitar when they were younger and are getting back into music.

"The thing that keeps it fresh is that so many people want to learn music," Howard said.

Electric guitar is popular with his teen students. In addition to rock, he also teaches bluegrass and folk.

Teaching adults and kids are different experiences, Howard said.

"Adults want quicker gratification, Howard said, while "kids are more open to the fact" that it can take a long time to learn to play guitar well.

One of his adult students was a secretary at the Memorial United Methodist Church on West Avon Road, about 15 years ago and showed him the church's acoustic space. Since then, he began renting space to start a rock music camp, and many of his 12- to 18-year-old students attend. Jimmy Hendrix music usually makes its way into the camp's repertoire, as well as the occasional "surf rock" and jazz tune. But most of all, Howard said his "guitar army" plays rock.

In fact, some fondly call his camp the "school of rock."

"I'm not as funny as Jack Black, but there are similarities [to 'School of Rock']," Howard joked.

There, the class dynamic is different than private lessons because the students learn to play as a group, performing a show at the end of the summer session.

"It's a nice change of pace for my students and me," Howard said. "They are learning how to improvise and what it's like to learn an arrangement."

Jeff Howard and Jake Huffman, two members of teenage band The McLovins, started at Howard's rock camp in 2008. They have been becoming well known in the local community.

One of the bands from this past summer, Dingo and the Tree Meisters, a name that the high school students chose, will be playing at Avon Day on the stage at 3 p.m. Avon natives and electric guitarists Sam Shield, Pat Vignati, Cole Petano and Aidan Moore, as well as Granby bass Ben Hebert are performing. The band's drummer, Nick Sonsini, of Granby, could not make it, so Holtkamp will be filling in. All but Moore, who is in college, are high school students.

An original song the group wrote at Howard's camp, called “The Ballad of Morgan Freeman,” is on the set list.

Howard himself has written five guitar instruction books and plays for two bands, Last Fair Deal and in a duo with Stacy Phillips. His son, Todd used to play bass in Last Fair Deal, but since he moved to California, the band has become the trio of Paul Howard, Torrington resident Tom Hagymasi on fiddle and bousouki, and Cromwell resident Phil Zimmerman on banjo and mandolin. All of them sing. The band released its last album, "True Tales," in 2006.

Howard also has big plans with Phillips as the two prepare for their first Austrailian Folk Festival in Canberra. Phillips plays dobro guitar and fiddle and both sing, experimenting in jazz, gipsy, ethnic and Hawaiian music, in addition to bluegrass and rock.

So, even though he has played since age 13, Howard still has room to learn while he is teaching others.