The classroom of New Philadelphia music teacher Chad Roberts has a vibe all its own.
Dark walls are lined with posters, some bearing images of BB King and Twenty One Pilots. Music stands take the place of traditional desks, and a projector screen magnifies lyrics from the 1993 Cranberries hit “Linger” at the front of the room.
“We have seven periods a day of guitar,” said Roberts, who began his career with the New Philadelphia schools in 2003 as the high school band director. The following year, he started a beginner level guitar program with a handful of high school students, later extending the opportunity to middle schoolers.
Since then, the program has grown in both size and popularity.
“At any time, I might have 150 to 170 kids a year involved in learning how to play,” he said.
Students build foundational skills in class, learning chords and melodies, and they build confidence through opportunities to perform out in the community.
“Something like this is pretty unique,” Roberts said. “I take a lot of pride in how it's evolved from a beginner level class to eventually adding a second level class, and now we've got two different performing ensembles in addition to that.”
Seventh graders through seniors in high school participate in the program. Many students preparing to graduate this year have been learning guitar with Roberts for that entire six-year span.
A few students come in having tried to learn the instrument on their own, but the majority have never picked up a guitar before joining the classes.
“People buy the guitar because they think, ‘That looks awesome. I'm going to impress my friends, impress girls. I'm going to make my favorite music,’” he said. “And then they try it and realize, ‘Boy, this is hard.’”
The classes provide structure and accountability, Roberts said, which students wouldn’t really get in the same way if they try to learn at home on their own.
Gabe Winn is a high school senior this year and has been learning with Roberts since seventh grade. His father and older sister both play guitar, so he grew up around the instrument and had an early interest in learning to play.
“It was a lot harder than I was expecting, so I kind of wimped out at home until this class,” Winn said. "Just having a dedicated teacher, I knew it would be a lot easier.”
In her four years as superintendent of New Philadelphia City Schools, Amy Wentworth has seen how much students love Roberts’ classes.
“This gives some students their purpose for coming to school,” Wentworth said. “All students are looking for a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging, and guitar class has provided another opportunity for some of our students to find that.”
