Hello!  My name is Gina Ray.  I am a mother to four children and a wife to one incredible, supportive man!  The most important things (and the things that I enjoy most) are God, my family, our nation, the fine arts, and the great outdoors.  

And I LOVE teaching music!

I have been teaching since 1992 when I was 17 years old.  I studied piano and piano pedagogy under Dr. Joan Woods and Ruby LeSueur.  I also studied Music Education at MCC and piano under Dr. Ruth Yandell.  My piano pedagogy line can be traced back to incredible performers and teachers such as Lili Kraus, Carl Czerny, Franz Liszt, and then even way back to Beethoven and Bach!  So fun!  I also studied vocal performance at MCC and really enjoy singing alto and harmonizing every chance I get.

I teach in a classical style prioritizing proper technique, theory, sight reading, and basic ear training.  I primarily use the Faber and Pace methods for my beginning and intermediate students --but love to dabble them in jazz also!  For my more advanced students, I introduce them to the 4 musical periods:  Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary.  Together, we choose repertoire that they will enjoy practicing.  Music is supposed to be fun and rewarding!  The Romantic era is my absolute favorite --but it is important to learn all styles --including being introduced to the organ and hymns.

Practicing may not be everyone's favorite thing to do every day --but it is extremely important!  I have a great reward system where my students can exchange their practice time for prizes!  Super fun!  In order to make good progress, you must practice a minimum of 4 days per week. This can easily be done by setting aside a specific time each day to practice.  Alerts and alarms definitely help.  The students that progress the most, practice almost every single day.  Some of my students have even progressed from beginning to intermediate within just a one-year's time!  Anyone can do it --it just takes daily consistency.