School of Rock to open in Old Town Clovis

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- The next generation of talented musicians may soon use Clovis as a launching point.

The School of Rock is a successful franchise with over 200 locations around the globe. But valley kids will be able to hone their singing and musical skills in Old Town Clovis.

It might look like someone already brought the house down, but the School of Rock will soon emerge from out of all the rubble.

Ted Lopez of the School of Rock Clovis explained, "We're going to have a nice stage built in with nice lighting and everything."

Ted and his wife Mariah are transforming the old Bear Creek Gifts shop in old town next to DiCicco's.

The wood interior will be gutted to make way for sound-proof rooms. Lopez grew up in Fresno playing guitar.

He recalled, "Back in those days it was learning by the book and then going for recitals. Our concept is to bring that to a whole new level. Get kids performing, get them comfortable working with others on stage. Makes it a lot more exciting than the old style of teaching."

The 2003 movie "School of Rock" greatly benefitted a school with the same name in Philadelphia and led the owner to expand to other cities.

Lopez loves the growth he has seen in old town. He added Clovis needs a musical outlet for kids who aren't involved in sports like football and baseball. "All these places that push sports and things that are typically given to high school kids to excel at but we really don't have a stadium for musicians or artistic types or introverts and things like that."

In addition to learning more about music, Lopez says the school will help some kids undergo a social transformation.

He expects to open the School of Rock in September.