Strumming to success

SPARTA - Bill Wright knows firsthand how to use lemons to make lemonade. After a 20-year career with AT&T, Wright was a casualty of corporate downsizing, so he took his part-time passion for the guitar and made it his full-time livelihood, the Bill Wright Guitar Studio. What started out as a part-time labor of love has grown so much that Wright dismantled his home-based business in Byram and recently relocated to new, spacious quarters in Sparta. The studio is no longer limited to Wright. His staff of teachers includes Seth Fleishman, Jeff Gaynor, Elisa Girlando, Chris Sacchieno, Jennifer Simonds, Bob Walker, all professional musicians who instruct in guitar, banjo, bass, and, most recently, vocals. Instruction is tailored to students of all ages, levels and styles. Wright explained that his method of teaching includes introducing students to a diverse type of music. “This is not just a place where students gain book knowledge about music, but learn about music,” said Jim Lawlor, whose 14-year-old son, Jordan, jammed with Wright during his weekly lesson. According to Jim, as a student with Wright, the home-schooled eighth-grader has had a whole new world of music open to him with material from the 60s, from such greats as Thelonius Monk, John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton. His father said he is pleased with the “huge amount of progress” Jordan has made under Wright’s tutelage. The choice of learning is up to the students, according to Wright. Using various methods of teaching, students are given the choice to learn to read music, improvise, or play by ear, or as the studio’s Web site suggests, “change you life now and learn how to really sing.” Piano instruction will join the choices in September of this year. Lessons range from 30 minutes to an hour in rock, jazz, blues, and country. The staff will prepare students for audition for regional competition events and for college entrance auditions. Wright said many former students come back when they graduate. “We get them coming and going,” he added proudly. Wright, who has been teaching for more than 22 year, sattended the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has performed with Buddy Miles and has studied privately with Dave Larue, Bucky Pizzarelli and Eddie Hazell. Currently, he performs with several groups from his jazz trio, Flying Home, which performs at Ellias’ Restaurant, to a 16-piece jazz big band, The Jazz Players Anonymous, which can be heard at the Mohawk House. In addition, Wright will appear June 10 at the Stanhope House with Guitarmageddon, an ensemble performing the music of Cream, Hendrix, Rolling Stones and other blues and rock classics. “It was a good move,” said Wright, who said he has doubled his enrollment in the three months since the relocation. “Parents say that the music keeps their kids busy and out of trouble; it is a creative outlet. Another said it changed his son’s life, and gave him a sense of identity.” Wright is almost a longtime resident of Byram with his wife, Lisa, and daughters, nine-year-old Emily and Lindsey, 6. The girls don’t play yet, but he hopes to get them playing soon. Wright will be teaching at the Sparta Summer Arts Program at the middle school. The studio offers family discounts and provides equipment repair services. The new studio offers large rehearsal rooms where parents are invited to sit in during a session, and the location provides ample parking. Bill Wright Guitar Studio is located at 83 Woodport Road, next to the Sparta Theatre Centre, Sparta. Wright can be reached at 973-729-7900 or by email at blueslanding@aol.com. More information on the programs offered can be obtained on the on the studio’s Web site at www.members.aol.com/blueslanding.