The doorway to the Rhum Academy’s performance space opens up into a cavernous room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking downtown Kokomo. Several rows of chairs are sandwiched by a stage at one end and a handful of cafe tables at the other.

It’s probably the most minimalist venue in town.

There aren’t strobe lights and pyrotechnics. No espresso machines whirring in the background. No clouds of smoke or cell phones ringing. There’s no bar, and there never will be, says owner Gary Rhum.

That’s because Rhum Academy of Music and Performing Arts Center, the performance space and music school located at 110 N. Washington St., is about one thing, and one thing only.

“What this room is about is the music,” he said.

Years ago, Rhum played in the space, located on the second floor of the former city building, and thought to himself, “I would love to get a room like that to play in there all the time.”

Years later, Leslie and DJ Bolinger called and offered him that very space.

“And here we are,” said Rhum with a quiet smile.

Rhum, along with his wife, Jessica, and a handful of notable area musicians, teach about 160 students of all ages — “from 6 to 66,” he says — percussion, brass, woodwind instruments and more.

But anyone who knows Rhum, knows of his passion for the guitar.

He caught the bug at age 4, when he first touched his uncle’s guitar.

“He let me go over and pluck the string on his old Martin, and I still remember that, that much,” he said.

From that point on, he said, his life was filled with music.

From bluegrass to country to jazz — “The Beatles came along and it totally changed my life” — Rhum says he’s been influenced and inspired by every genre.

“I feel like I’m just an amalgamation of all these great artists,” said Rhum, who toured the country in various groups before coming back to Kokomo to be a father, be with family and eventually teach.

Rhum has an organic approach, he said, and often teaches musicians based on songs they like to hear, whether it be from James Taylor to Taylor Swift.

And helping each student is satisfying in a different way, he says.

With the beginners, there’s the excitement of seeing them light up when they first play a song, he said. With experienced players, he said, there’s another kind of satisfaction in seeing them take their craft to a new level.

“It’s just a joy. It’s like playing a perfect show,” he said.

Now, many students of Rhum’s have either gone on to careers in the music industry or come full circle to teach alongside him at the academy.

The academy is even offering studio classes on how to run PA systems — and Rhum knows the sound makes a difference.

“You can have the best band in the whole world and a lousy sound man, and it sounds lousy,” Rhum said. “You can have a mediocre band and a great sound man, and it sounds great.”

Even the guitars that line the hallways of the academy and the inside of his classrooms — all of which are for sale — are more than that to Rhum.

To the uninitiated, they might just look like a row of instruments. But he talks about them like they are old friends and can tell you the back story on any of them.

Take, for example, the Jeff Tweedy limited edition guitar that sits in Rhum’s office. The instrument, named for the famed Wilco frontman, is one of just 25 Breedlove ever made.

Hearing him talk about these guitars is like hearing a poet read love letters.

“You want to feel that guitar sing, through your whole body,” he said, picking another off the wall and gently cradling it in his hands.

Rhum said he and the rest of his staff simply hope to pass that kind of knowledge, experience and love of music on to their students. They are currently accepting students of all age levels for all instruments.

The academy features musicians every weekend and says the highlight for him is the student shows, which showcase some of the talent being cultivated at Rhum Academy.

“You see some great players in the making,” he said. “To me, that’s what this is all about.”

• Erin Shultz is the Kokomo Tribune Life & Style editor. She may be reached at 765-454-8587 or erin.shultz@kokomotribune.com.