Betty Gentry Music School

Once upon a time ........ boy what a way to start but it is getting close to Christmas and dreams do come true for those of us who believe in miracles. My dream has always been to teach music to young and old and I am fortunate enough to be living my dream. I have had such talented students over the years and enjoy all the fun challenges that implies. I still have spaces left this year and would love to have more students to teach. Many students have taken piano and voice les...sons at the same time and we have had fun creating a choir with all the students who only take piano or keyboard. Did you know there is a difference between piano and keyboard? Not only is the keyboard smaller and includes neat rhythms and different sounds but the touch is so different from any piano. Now getting to the piano, this gives you 88 keys and a sustain pedal and many opportunities to play complicated pieces. Both are great instruments and can be used for different things. Some keyboards are even used in a small band. Hopefully there are new students out there that would love the opportunity to enjoy creating music. Lots of people have taken lessons before and love to come back as their lives have changed and they now have more time to practice. Contact me at [email protected]. Let’s have some fun. Christmas music is the best! See more

Once I lived in a wonderful small town and found a great kids drama class for my young children. They performed plays and danced and sang and had great times. The teacher had an amazing and talented son who became one of my terrific students. He took singing from me and we performed in the local festival. The song we performed was from a famous musical but I changed the speed to much slower and Tyson was able to sing and dance to it with me playing the piano to accompany him.... He had a serious breathing problem and by slowing the song down he was able to get enough breath when he needed to. His Mom had tried other teachers but had been told he could not sing because he could not breath properly. I was able to prove that wrong as we did major warm up exercises and changed songs he could handle. All in all he won the local festival that year and we went on to perform in Provincial Festival and came in second with an extra comment from the adjudicator complimenting us on being brave enough to perform the song at such a different speed so successfully. Needless to say Ty and I were smiling as we headed home. See more

Snow has arrived and walking and getting around now becomes so much more difficult. Reminds me of my hockey playing student named Ross. He took keyboard lessons from me and normally any student that can be aggressive enough to play hockey does not have the ability to be calm enough to play music. Not only did he play hockey but he was one of their star athletes so it was even more amazing that he was able to be focused and excelled at playing the keyboard.

I had a really interesting student called Alice. Her parents brought her to me when she was 8 years old and we started piano lessons. She was having trouble dealing with school work and getting along with kids in school but she and I got along wonderfully. Things took a little longer for her to understand but once she got it she really understood. We worked hard together over that first year and she not only improved at her piano playing but she started to get along with the ...kids at school and her school work improved as well. She was with me for over 5 years until My husband got transferred and we had to move. Such a great girl and fun to work with. ........ By the way Alice had been diagnosed as retarded and unable to learn properly. I was fortunate enough to be able to work with her and patience and understanding changed how she was able to function at a much higher level. A great success story! See more

Started music lessons this week. Soooo much fun! There are some more openings for more new students from age 5-65. All are great and each age has such wonderful things they do. Love the laughter and smiles.