Let the music play

BeBop Music Shop closed after 26 years in November when owner Chris DeJohn joined Eric Lindell’s touring band. But another local drummer is making sure the Government Street space near Baton Rouge Magnet High School is put to good musical use.

Doug Gay, a 32-year-old percussionist for several local groups—The Andy Pizzo Project, The Elements, among others—and band director at the Dunham School opened the second location of his Baton Rouge Music Studios in the old BeBop building late last year.

His studio operates a rapidly expanding after-school music program with 11 band directors and professional musicians instructing some 200 kids on everything from piano and guitar to string and brass instruments.

When Gay was trying to start his own band as an eighth-grader in Lake Charles, he says those rehearsal attempts would usually go down something like this: After days of scheduling the band would get rides and meet at someone’s house. Then no one would agree on what to play or how. Then instruments would clang and buzz, and ultimately more practice time would be spent developing Nintendo skills than developing music.

Wanting to provide young musicians with the structure and guidance he could have used himself as a kid, Gay opened the music studio in a space off Bluebonnet Boulevard in the summer of 2006.

“Some people say ‘Hey, you’re the School of Rock,’” Gays says, laughing. “And I say ‘No, no. We’re the ‘Institute of Music and Leadership.’ Sure rock is a part of that, but we’re trying to encompass as much as we can.”

Most students at Baton Rouge Music Studio come from private schools, making this a solid complement to the efforts Michael Foster has made in public schools. Foster’s Save the Music program purchases instruments for students who maintain good grades. “Mike and I share a lot of the same passion for getting the music out there to the kids,” Gay says. “He’s focusing on providing opportunities for kids who may not have any, and I’m focusing on providing more opportunities to those who might have them but don’t realize they do.”

Gay realized he was serving a larger need than even he had thought when enrollment jumped after a sold-out concert at Manship Theatre last year. “A lot of these kids are in school programs, but being able to do something more on their own away from school has appealed to them, too,” he says. “There’s more of a sense of ownership.”

Andrew Davis, 24, is one of the studio’s guitar instructors and has worked with students ages six to 40. “We like to keep it low stress and as unlike school as possible, but still in an environment where they can learn,” he says. “They all learn to overcome performance anxiety by being part of a group, because we put them in situations where they are playing for family and friends who are going to support them no matter what.”

Since the studio has grown to two locations, Gay finds himself teaching fewer one-on-one drum lessons but nurturing his business and the business savvy of his students a lot more. His latest project, the “Young Band Program,” provides how-to training for start-up groups. Gay plans to book gigs and provide marketing and merchandise for the fledgling musicians until they get the hang of it. “Then we’ll just function like a consulting firm for them, and they can come to us with any questions they have,” Gay says. “If we do that cycle several times for young bands, by the time they are in late high school they’ll be doing it themselves.”

Gay will talk for days about his favorite bands—The Beatles, Tower of Power, Coldplay—but when talking about his students the conversation often turns to communication and leadership. It is clear he wants his young musicians walking away knowing more than a few chords. “Sometimes we get so focused on teaching skills that we don’t look at the big picture,” he says. “We want to use music to teach these kids how to work well with others and succeed in life.” brmusicstudios.com