NAME:
Kyle Ray
SCHOOL:
North Oldham Middle School
CLASSES:
Band, Humanities
SCHOOL PHONE:
228-9998 ext. 718
Mr. Ray is one of the original teachers on the North Campus, now serving the
Goshen/Prospect community for his 16th year where he has served as the NOMS
Band Director. In addition, Mr. Ray also led the NOHS Concert and Marching
Band. During his 6 year tenure at NOHS he led the band to 2 state simifinals
in Marching Band, 4 Distingushed Ratings in Concert Bands, 2 invitations to
the State Concert Band Festival, and 3 performances in Walt Disney World's
Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center. He is a graduate of Bowling Green High
School, the University of Louisville School of Music, and Western Kentucky
University. Mr. Ray has been serving the Louisville communtiy as a
professional musician since 1989 performing in groups such as The
SimpleTones - a 1950's Rock-A-Billy review, Caribe' - A Carribbean Steel Drum
ensemble covering the likes of Jimmy Buffett, Bob Marley, and Harry
Belefonte, Caribou - serving Rock 'N Roll Oldies to the Louisville area since
the time when these songs weren't considered "oldies", Brassounds - providing
ceremonial music for weddings and special events, and as a solo guitarist and
vocalist at Bahama Breeze from 1999 to 2003. For the past two years Mr. Ray
has been performing regularly as part of the Contemporary Praise Band at St.
John UMC in Prospect.
My mission as a Music and Humanities teacher is to produce adults who are
advocates for and patrons of the performing arts. In a society where 3 1/2
minute songs, 30 minute TV shows, and 90 minute movies that are written to
sell to the masses dominate the young persons' time, it takes a special kind
of education to get them to be able to understand, appreciate and want to
attend a Louisville Orchestra Concert, a play at Actors Theater of
Louisville, or a Broadway show at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. My goal
is not to close their eyes or turn their backs to pop culture, but to help
them realize that it only scratches the surface of what is possible in
music, dance, and theater. I try to use their knowledge of popular music
and movies as a bridge to connect what they already know to what they cannot
yet understand and hopefully convince them that if they take the time to
learn how to appreciate the fine arts, they will enjoy them as much as or
more than the "flavor of the month" arts that they already enjoy.