Guitar By Jeffrey Westhoff Photography Julie Linnekin HERO
Mario Licciardi teaches the band how to connect the A-section (verse) of a song to its B-section (chorus) in rehearsal. From left: Tyler Schultz, Gracie Ransom, Mario Licciardi, Mateyko Jazwinski, and Matthew Wilson. On drums (in front) is Max Kiley. Mario Licciardi teaches communication, self-discipline, and leadership skills. But his is no typical classroom. Here, the students belt out Pat Benatar lyrics and practice the best of garage band-style music, with a professional leading the way. Tapping his foot, Mario Licciardi listens as a rock combo of three youngsters none of them yet a teenager play Green Day s Holiday. The band members, who call themselves The Purple Tomatoes, power through the song until they reach the guitar solo, then the beat flags. Mario waves for them to stop. You ve got to keep the tempo up, he says. The energy and the tempo need to stay the same through the whole song. To demonstrate, Mario takes the drummer s place and bangs out a driving rhythm. The young drummer resumes his seat behind the kit, and The Purple Tomatoes are rocking again, fast and loud. Mario is 36-years-old, but looks at least seven years younger. He wears jeans and an embroidered denim shirt. His hair is black and closely cropped, with a ridge running down the center. His eyeglasses are also black, with a frame like Buddy Holly s but hipper. The band is jamming now and Mario smiles as he struts among the budding rockers, bobbing his head like Mick Jagger. It may not look it, but class is in session and Mario is teaching. The name of the class is Rockstar 101. QBarrington.com Quintessential Barrington 107
Mario started Rockstar 101 at Consolidated Music, the music store located in the Barrington Commons, four years ago. A guitar instructor at Consolidated Music for 16 years, Mario had been mulling the idea of playing mentor to young rock bands for a long time, but the true impetus was the persistent popularity of the 2003 Jack Black movie, School of Rock. It made parents and adults realize what a fun thing it is for kids to learn rock n roll, Mario says. The movie inspired an influx of rock n roll classes, but Mario believed many were too regimented. He wanted to create something looser, something that reflected the true spirit of rock n roll. The Rockstar thing is really cool, Mario says, because I m definitely an individual who likes to teach to individuals. Once students enroll in Rockstar 101, Mario arranges them into bands of four to six members sorted into the classic garage band arrangement: drummer, bassist, singer, one to three guitarists, and possibly a keyboard player. Students range in age from 8 to 17, and Mario prefers that they have six to nine months of music instruction before signing up. we re an american band Mario lets the students choose their band s name. He gets them started with simple songs of two or three chords and one or two change-ups, but the bands determine their own set lists. I let the kids pick the songs, he says, which is really cool. Students play everything from Chuck Berry to the Beatles to Nirvana to the White Stripers. At the end of the three-week session, the bands graduate with a concert at the Penny Road Pub in South Barrington. Steve Muscarello s daughter, Alyssa, is a Barrington High School student and Rockstar 101 veteran (at age 15) who is lead singer in the band Theater Candy. He will never forget the look of joy on her face the first time she performed at the Penny Road Pub. After the show, she said to me, This is the best day of my life! Steve adds, This really has been life-changing for her. It s probably the most important thing in her life right now. Mario believes Rockstar can be life-changing because it teaches lessons beyond musicianship. It s about the whole entire band having to learn the song and playing it in time, he says. To do that, they must master communication skills. They learn they have to speak and not text or Twitter each other. It s only rock n roll Mario usually sees students coming to grips with this issue after a few weeks. By the third or fourth class of the session, they see that they have to address the issue of the musicality of the band face to face, with each other, and with me. They have to face the music, so to speak. Teamwork grows from this kind of communication, as 11-year-old guitarist, Joseph Jazwinski of Cary realized. It s not that you all have to learn to play your parts. It s harder than that, says Joseph, who plays in a White Stripes cover band. It makes you realize that teamwork really does count in everything, adds the band s 10-year-old lead singer, Gracie Ransom of Lake Barrington. Seventeen-year-old Ron Gierlach, who will be a senior at Barrington High School this fall, says he gained leadership skills through Rockstar. Even if I m not the most talented musician in the room, I m the one who knows how to get everything together, he says, and if it weren t for Rockstar, I d be just as lost as I was before. Ron adds that he loves spending time with Mario simply talking rock history. I m always bouncing bands off of Mario, and he s always bouncing bands off of me. Joseph s mother, Tamara Jazwinski, has noted this connection between Mario and his students. He s like the Pied Piper, she says. Kids follow him, they ask him questions. He keeps them curious. Mario has a dual passion for music and teaching. A major reason that he created the Rockstar program was to give students the benefit of something he didn t have at their age. It may sound 108 Quintessential Barrington QBarrington.com
a little pompous, he says, but I didn t have me growing up. Sweet home Chicago Mario s father, a strict Italian immigrant who worked in a factory, didn t understand rock n roll. He thought his son would make a better living with a broom or a shovel rather than a guitar. The support level was very minimal, Mario says. I had to discipline myself and force myself to be successful. Mario grew up in Edison Park on the Northwest side of Chicago. His first exposure to rock came at age 10 when his sister began dating a guitarist in a heavy metal band that played a lot of Scorpions music. I thought he was cool, Mario remembers. Mario got his first guitar a year later, but it took him several more years to become proficient. That frustrated him. When you watch these bands as a kid, he says, you don t realize how much discipline it takes to actually get good at it. His guitar heroes were Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore and Alex Lifeson of Rush. Although Mario s first love was lead guitar, he would sing or play bass if it got him a gig. There were so many guitarists in my neighborhood I had to take up whatever I could find to play in a band. Mario eventually joined a band called Flavored Pain and played at venues including the Avalon Nightclub, the Vic, and the Thirsty Whale. This was the early 90s, and Chicago s alternative rock scene was teeming as the Smashing Pumpkins and Urge Overkill became nationally famous. It was an inspirational time, Mario says. Bands from Chicago who were getting record deals were really exciting, because they were from here and were making an impact in the music world. How to save a life Contrary to his father s predictions, Mario became a professional guitarist at age 17 and has made a living at it ever since. Looking back, Mario says his father believed the worst stereotypes about rock musicians, that their lifestyle was all about sex and drugs and trashing hotel rooms. Yet Mario credits rock with keeping him off drugs, because his form of rebellion was to perfect his guitar skills. Mario believes rock n roll teaches the same working-class ethic his father extolled. Rock n This ensemble represents students who have been in the Rockstar 101 program more than two or three times, and have learned how to play together, growing as a band. In front, from left: Gracie Ransom, Max Kiley, Mateyko Jazwinski, and Matthew Wilson. In back, Tyler Schultz. roll has values, he says. It s a blue-collar thing. You use your hands. And if you re not good, you don t get a call back. Yet rock s bad reputation persists. Tamara Jazwinski says she often sees shocked faces when she tells people Joseph and her other son, Matthew, are students of rock. People think, Oh, rock n roll, she says, but this couldn t be a healthier outlet for them. She adds that her sons have done better academically since joining Rockstar. Tamara opened up another educational opportunity for Mario last fall. A counselor in Cary Community Consolidated School District 26, Tamara was upset that the district cut its music program earlier that year. Talking to Mario in November, she wondered if he had any ideas that could bring music instruction back to Cary s primary school students. Mario just looked at me and said, Let s talk about it. 39,000 guitar lessons As a solution, Mario called in an instructor with a background in classical music, Ron Swanson, and along with Tamara they formed a private company Ron Gierlach QBarrington.com Quintessential Barrington 109
called Stage One Music to teach an after-school program three days a week (students who enroll in the class pay a fee). The program started in January and teaches basic music components such as melody and rhythm using current pop songs. Stage One has been a success. It was a terrific gift for these kids who were starved for music, Tamara says. Mario adds, The kids love it. In the fall, Stage One will add a guitar class for Cary Junior High, and eventually Mario would like to bring the program to other communities, such as Schaumburg, where schools have eliminated music programs. We re at the ground floor of something, he says. We re working to give back our knowledge to school districts. Even before Stage One Music can reach that next level, Mario already is developing another educational program. He is setting up the 100 Red Guitar Foundation with the goal of giving guitars and lessons to children who cannot afford them. I know how hard it is growing up, he says. My parents were unemployed for about three years when I was a kid. As Mario envisions it, children will submit essays on why they want a guitar and why they cannot afford one to a website www.marsguitar.com that is still being constructed. Mario will choose a recipient once a month or once every three months, depending on the number of donors he is able to line up. I ll figure out a way, he says. I m good at that. He also would give guitar lessons via Skype. He plans to have the program under way by September. Meanwhile, Mario has Rockstar 101 and private lessons at Consolidated Music to keep him occupied. He joined Consolidated Music as a parttime instructor in August 1995 and went full time six months later. He estimates he has given 39,000 Aside from gaining the personal values of communication, discipline, leadership and confidence, students do learn much about music. guitar lessons. Mario commuted from Chicago for 15 years until moving to Barrington in 2010. Mario credits Consolidated Music owner Jeff Lindahl for supporting his career as a guitar teacher. He s been like a dad to me, Mario says. Lindahl was enthusiastic when Mario started thinking about Rockstar 101. stand by me Mario teaches Rockstar 101 in the basement of Consolidated Music. One concrete wall of the room is decorated in a checkerboard pattern of carpet samples alternating with 45 rpm records from the 1980s. A drum kit, with the Rockstar 101 logo on the bass, is surrounded by Fender amps, and a keyboard sits to the side. Students bring their own guitars. It s a lot more than I had when I was a kid, Mario says. We had to rehearse in a smelly kid s bedroom with a broken amp. After completing their first Rockstar session, many of the bands return to learn more songs and to hone their talents. Mario has watched many of these children grow in confidence. I ve seen the most insecure kids become a lot more secure about themselves, he says. They find their identity. Aside from gaining the personal values of communication, discipline, leadership and confidence, students do learn much about music. For younger students who follow current pop stars 110 Quintessential Barrington QBarrington.com
such as Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga, the first few sessions can be a bit of a time warp, because guitar-driven rock is largely absent from today s music charts. A lot of the music doesn t have any guitar parts, Mario says. It s mostly overproduced Disney stuff. Vocalists in the Rockstar program often must make a quick adjustment to the no-frills, garage sound. They realize how many singers today have Auto-Tune behind them, Mario says. They learn that when you sing into a mic [on stage] you have to be good. There s no candy coating. Gracie Ransom is one of those students. Before I was in Rockstar, I only listened to pop, says Gracie, the daughter of Kelly and Ken Ransom. Two years later, Gracie ferociously belts out hits by the White Stripes and the Rolling Stones. She loves Pat Benatar s Heartbreaker and Chuck Berry s Johnny B. Goode. I m a rocker now, Gracie says, and I feel like I can get my anger out. Rock is a good way to get out my feelings. As Rockstar 101 has grown, Mario has taken on an assistant, Drew Ray, to help. The program s rising popularity has brought new faces to the basement. In the beginning, Mario knew all the students through private lessons at Consolidated Music. Now, new students signing up are strangers to him. One recently enrolled student wants to play the flute. So I guess we ll have a Jethro Tull tribute band, Mario quips. As the summer begins, Mario is involved in two wildly different music education programs, Rockstar 101 and Stage One Music, and he has a third, the 100 Red Guitar Foundation, in the offing. These are in addition to the private lessons he teaches. And he also plays in a Chicago-based band, Elston. Where does he find the time? The question makes him laugh. He s heard it many times. It s always a stretch, my friend, he says. I m lucky I have the energy I have. He makes a joke about drinking copious amounts of espresso. The secret s in the coffee, he says. Not to mention the music. Jeffrey Westhoff is a writer who lives in Palatine, and is a regular contributor to Quintessential Barrington. Mario Licciardi takes a break at Barrington s Canteen restaurant. QBarrington.com Quintessential Barrington 111
While his students are learning their songs and preparing for their show at Penny Road Pub, Mario Licciardi is developing an outreach effort called 100 Red Guitars Foundation to connect rock n roll music and instruments to children who cannot afford a guitar or music lessons. Teach Your Children Well Mario Licciardi gets excited when talking about the energy and fun that students bring to the Rockstar 101 classes he teaches at Consolidated Music in Barrington. His students and their parents are quick to return the praise. I don t think the Rockstar program would be half as successful if he wasn t able to inspire these kids, says Steve Muscarello of Barrington. His daughter, Alyssa, has gained new confidence as a rock singer through the program. He demands a level of commitment, Steve continues. Mario doesn t give an option to fail. It s not an option for him. Gracie Ransom, a 10-year-old from Lake Barrington, also learned to sing through Rockstar 101 and appreciates Mario s no-fail attitude. He really pushed me to do my best, she says, and I ve never had someone push me like that before. And I realized I had a good voice. Ron Gierlach, a 17-year-old guitarist who will be a senior at Barrington High School in the fall, says Mario is much more than a musical taskmaster. He teaches you to really enjoy the guitar, Ron says. He embodies someone who gets fulfillment through playing music. With him it s so visible. Every encounter is something that makes you want to practice more. Maria Dahnke of Barrington has two children enrolled in Rockstar, 11-year-old Nate and 9-year-old Ava. She appreciates that Rockstar is less competitive than school music programs such as orchestra, and that there is no first chair for guitar in a rock band. I think that frees up the kids to be more comfortable, she says. It frees them up to be versatile, Maria adds. Nate played guitar when he joined the class, then switched to drums. He picked that up, drumming, just from being in Rockstar, she says. Ron agrees that Mario creates a comfortable setting for creative personalities. It s a place where people who aren t of a group mentality can be in a group, he says. Ron has used the lessons he learned in Rockstar to coach a band himself. He credits his new confidence to his former teacher. I would never see myself playing in a band much less coaching another, younger band if it weren t for Mario, he says. Mario s confidence allows students to find new possibilities within themselves, Gracie says. Before Rockstar, I didn t know I really had music in me, she says. When I came here, I got music. Gracie saves her strongest praise for Mario s gift of inspiration. When you walk through his door, he ll make sure your dreams come true, she says. He ll give you passion. The Rockstar Schedule Mario Licciardi will teach two more Rockstar 101 sessions for the remainder of the summer. All classes are taught at Consolidated Music, 125 Barrington Commons. Final performances are at the Penny Road Pub, 28W705 Penny Road, in South Barrington. July Session Classes: July 5 to 22. Final performance: August 4 August Session Classes: Aug. 1 to 19. Final performance: Aug. 21 Rockstar 101 bands will perform at the following venues this summer: June 30 Barrington Cruise Nights, Harris Bank Parking Lot, 8:30 to 10 p.m. July 3 Brat Tent at Barrington Fourth of July Celebration, 2:15 p.m. July 21 Barrington Cruise Nights, Grassroots Store, 8:30 to 10 p.m. August 21 Rockstar 101 free concert at Penny Road Pub, South Barrington, 2:30 p.m. August 25 Barrington Cruise Nights, Grassroots Store, 8:30 to 10 p.m. Enrollment for Rockstar 101 is $375 per session. For more information, call Consolidated Music at 847-381-0164, or visit www.consolidatedmusic.net/rockstar101.php.