During Hooray For Coaches Day, we’d like to showcase a woman who is continually investing in youth’s success in music.
Meet Stephanie Bird, a current guitar coach. Bird began playing guitar at age ten in Scotland. She worked under a strict teacher there, but one day Bird’s teacher brought in a guitar player for her students.
When she returned to Canada, she began taking night classes to learn to play.
In university, Bird’s professors took liberties to let Bird express herself musically. “He actually let me hand in a set of poems I set to music.” she said, “I recorded some music and he accepted that. That’s what got things going.”
When Bird returned to Brighton, she began teaching at Eastern Northumberland Secondary School, where she participated in musical theatre production. “I started to discover kids who are talented, “she says.
Bird says she doesn’t hold recitals for her students—She prefers to let them make their own music in the app, GarageBand. She says there’s a lot of aspects that go into the whole process of music mastering and musical theatre.
Bird proudly champions the therapeutic quality guitar has. She says, “[playing] should be something you want to do automatically. it takes your mind elsewhere. Just the relaxation side of it is very healthy.” She says she experienced this herself in university, “My guitar was there. Always.”
She continues to teach all ages.
Listen to the full interview here:
Written by: Noah Lorusso
