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When it comes to rock ‘n’ roll, Parkville is now the place to be.

For teenagers at least.

The Kansas City branch of Paul Green’s School of Rock, a national chain of schools that teach rock music to teens, recently relocated from the basement of a medical office building in North Kansas City to a house in downtown Parkville, 1315 East St.

Mark Ballard, who runs the school, said the basement office just wasn’t cutting it anymore.

"We decided we needed our own building as opposed to sharing a building because we can be real obnoxious neighbors if we have to share a building," he said. "It kept us from doing things during the day, and we always had to make sure lessons didn’t start until after 4 p.m. The long and short of it is we really just needed our own building."

When he started looking for new digs, Ballard said Parkville was just an obvious choice.

For one, about 75 percent of his students live in southern Platte County, said Ballard, with most coming from the Parkville area. Secondly, Ballard just likes the town.

"Parkville means a lot to me personally because when I played music full time, me and my band lived in a house on Fifth Street, all six of us," he said. "Parkville has that community feel, and we never felt that in North Kansas City. We never had any problems there, it’s just that the sidewalks roll up at 4 p.m. there."

Although the school’s been involved in the local music scene in the past — the school’s house band played Christmas on the River last year — Ballard said he wanted to get more involved and do more events in town to showcase his students and his school.

"This is a vibrant town with a great community spirit, and people get behind events here," he said. "This town is all about loyalty, and hopefully people will be loyal to us and we’ll be loyal to them. We’re going to be part of the Parkville music scene, and they’ll love these kids."

The school, one of 50 across the country, is now open for business in its new Parkville digs and offers the lessons to children ages 7 to 18 with programs for beginners and experts, according to its Web site, www.schoolofrock.com.

In addition to the regular lessons, the school also has a house band that allows young musicians to play shows in front of real audiences in the metro area. This month, the school’s house band is playing multiple shows at Afterschock in Merriam, Kan.

Admission is open year round. Contact Ballard at 842-ROCK for information on enrollment.

SCHOOL OF ROCK

For more information on the Kansas City branch of the School of Rock, located at 1315 East St. in downtown Parkville, visit www.schoolofrock.com/kansascity or call Mark Ballard at 842-ROCK.

Staff writer Michael Westblade can be reached at 389-6636 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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