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Bonnie Heath-Perry (center) led a gospel music workshop held recently in Raleigh. She is pictured here with Rev. Rodney Teal (left) and Rev. Ronzel Bell (right).
Workshop hits the hiigh notes
Knightdale resident heads effort
On Friday and Saturday, June 20-21, Music Workshop 2008 was held under the leadership of Bonnie Perry-Heath of Want Music? Ministry, Knightdale, and the Rev. Ronazel Bell, director of music ministries at Martin Street Baptist Church. The theme for the workshop was "Preparing The Way Through Passion," based on 1 Peter 1:10-11.
The chief clinician for the workshop was the Rev. Rodney A. Teal from Israel Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. He has been involved in ministry as a
choir director, songwriter, praise and worship leader, author, teacher and preacher for more than 20 years. He is an active member of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, serving on the local and national levels, and as a tenured faculty member in the Academic Division.
The workshop activities on Friday included a lecture and choir rehearsal. At 6 p.m. the workshop choir presented a concert. On Saturday, the workshop participants received further insturction by Teal and attended other class sessions, including piano and organ master class by Bell; voice master class by Dorthea Taylor; effective choir rehearsals by Minister Ophelia W. Livingston; "What Does The Word Say About It?" by the Rev. Kirby D. Jones; sight reading fundamentals by Angela D. Sessoms; and how to start a praise team by Verna Best.
Piano school hits the right note
By: MICHAEL BELL, STAFF WRITER
October, 2005
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Bonnie Perry-Heath calls the name of a prize winner during her piano studio's grand opening.
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KNIGHTDALE — Beside signs reading: “Bach off, I’m a musician” and “Too hot to Handel,” Bonnie Perry-Heath strolled about her music studio in Knightdale last Saturday, shaking hands and offering hugs to those visiting for her grand opening.
Perry-Heath, who lives in Zebulon but grew up near the studio off Buffaloe Road, wants others to experience the pleasures she’s gotten out of music, and particularly the piano. “It’s a soother. It’s soul wrenching. It’s a language of its own,” she said. “It’s a good way to reminiscence. It brings back good times.
“I think a person that doesn’t have a song or some sort of music to connect to is probably a very lonely person,” she said.
Perry-Heath worked at Square D in Knightdale for about 33 years in the marketing department. For 20 years, she’s taught piano on the side out of her home. Months ago, when she was renovating a mobile home to rent out, she said a spirit spoke to her, telling her to convert the trailer into a music studio. Saturday marked the grand opening celebration of Want Music? Ministry & Music School, at 8814 Buffaloe Road.
“You need someone in the area to be able to teach music and singing in order to grow stronger in Christ through music,” father Alexander Jones said. With the population booming, he felt it was good timing to have a studio, because music is “uplifting for the church and the community.”
In addition to piano lessons, the school coordinates and provides seminars, workshops and section rehearsals for church music departments. Students are instructed on reading notes, music theory, playing, music-related games, and hymns and Negro spirituals, said Perry-Heath, who has been ministering to others through Christian music for more than 43 years. Students, both children and adults, get a 30-minutes music lesson each week. They are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Contact Michael Bell at 269-6101 or mbell@nando.com.
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