In 1970, Minneapolis pianist and composer Warren Park thought there should be a different kind of music school.

Photo courtesy of Minneapolis Star Tribune.

A school that offered an alternative to the traditional Classical training. Dave Peterson (left) and Jim Price, early 1970s.

The school started in an old rooming house on the West Bank.

West Bank School house cartoon by Greg Grey, 1973.

Folk and root artists jammed here, including Bonnie Raitt, Spider John Koerner (pictured), Willie Murphy and Dave Ray.

Photo courtesy of Elektra Records.

The Jazz Composer Series lit up venues all over the city in the 1980s.

Fiddle students Matthew Rhody, Ben Thies and Jesse Rodell play at Lake Harriet Bandshell Concert in 1985 with instructor Dale Dalquist.

A Marching Guitar Orchestra rocked the Cedarfest parade in 1988.

To date, more than 19,000 students have come through the school's doors.

The school shares its music through community outreach programs.

The school celebrates its 40th year of sharing music with the community in 2010.

“…Many thousands of students of all stripes have learned some remarkable skills and had a fabulous time doing it.”

Warren Park, Founder

“It seems to me that learning is, and always has been, more successful if students can focus immediately on what they want to learn and progress at their own pace.”

Warren Park, Founder

“Klesmer? Chicago Blues?? Bluegrass? Punk folk? Improvisation on country swing? Or play these styles in a band with other students? Can you say ‘West Bank School of Music?’”

Dale Dahlquist, former Executive Director

“…A front porch where Bill will teach you fiddle licks in the warmer months (only the government calls him Mr. Hinckley).

Dale Dahlquist, former Executive Director

“…History, great musical talent and teaching, a supportive community, and one of the oldest, antiquated copy machines I had ever seen.”

Ellen Liberatori, former Executive Director

“Strolling up a muddy driveway on a muggy summer’s day, with a delicious potpourri of guitar, piano, sax and drums, and whatever wafting out of the school’s open windows.”

D.R. Martin, freelance writer

“My favorite memory is trading sandwiches for banjo lessons with a friend from the New Riverside Café, who was too poor to afford the lessons otherwise.”

Jim Tordoff, former teacher

“Among my favorites were a dentist who loved blues and a concert pianist who made Jelly Roll Morton sound like Franz Liszt.”

Butch Thompson, former teacher

“It was a lot of fun being surrounded by musicians, going on piano retrieval expeditions (like tearing out the walls in an old abandoned church to pull a donated piano down a stairway), finding a nationally known female singer crashed drunk on the living room couch, running a pirate radio station, having constant jam sessions, and being amongst a constantly changing group of innovative people.”

Alan Peterman

“West Bank School of Music helped me find my voice.”

Marilou Thibault, former board chair, alto

“Founded just as the 60’s were fading (during which time I was coming of age), the School reflects aspects of what was healthy about that period, attempting to and in many ways succeeding in providing an alternative ambiance for the study of music.”

Milo Fine, teacher

“Hanging out at the School was like being in a farmhouse that had been overrun by a bunch of music-addicted hippies and then picked up by a cyclone and dropped into the middle of an enlightened urban area.”

Adam Granger, former teacher

“But some of the best moments for me took place after hours in that old West Bank School of Music house where Willie and the Bumblebees, Spider John Koerner, Butch Thompson and many other Minnesota musical legends jammed into the wee hours.”

Barry Casselman, poet, fiction writer, playwright and journalist

“But I never really understood how the School made it through the years, except by the curious force of its students and teachers, the amazing musical energy they somehow created and recreated season after season, and in those early years, Warren’s tenacity.”

Barry Casselman, poet, fiction writer, playwright and journalist

“Who could forget Michael climbing onto a stool atop the cab of a truck and directing a mass of guitar players while all concerned ambled through the West Bank?”

Deane Morrison, former board chair and student

“…There is no passionate life without music.”

Catherine Jordan, arts producer

“In a sense, we were all like missionaries, offering up the best of ourselves to appreciative folks who just wanted to learn and have fun doing it.”

Dr. Dennis Boe, former board chair and teacher

“I maintain that the best music schools are those where you can hear what’s going on in the next room, even if it bugs you a little bit.”

Jim Price, former teacher