New location, same tune for Whyte Ridge Music

Advertisement

Advertise with us

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/05/2015 (3787 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A family-run music school in Whyte Ridge is marking a year of change with an open house on May 30.

Whyte Ridge Music Centre recently moved from its location of 13 years at 123 Scurfield Blvd. down the street to a smaller and more suitable space at 103 Scurfield Blvd. According to owner Kim Carter, the move this past fall was necessary to continue providing music lessons in the community.

“It was time for a change,” Carter said in the lobby of the new music centre. “We changed our focus of our business. Before we used to do half retail and half lessons with some repairs and recordings — now we strictly focus on lessons.”

Danielle Da Silva - Sou'wester
Kim Carter, owner of Whyte Ridge Music, is inviting the public to check out the academy’s open house on May 30.
Danielle Da Silva - Sou'wester Kim Carter, owner of Whyte Ridge Music, is inviting the public to check out the academy’s open house on May 30.

The new facility will still need to go through some renovations to make the transition complete, with work to be done on the ceiling and some of the lesson rooms. With the move, the music centre has also reduced to its retail component to the bare necessities (reeds, strings, valve oil, and so on) and has dedicated its energy to music education.

“We had to refocus on how we were going to do business if we wanted to keep on, because the retail side of things is very competitive,” said Carter, a longtime Whyte Ridge resident.

Music education has always been the number one focus of the centre, Carter said, and with the move she expects she will be able to serve her clients better.

The Whyte Ridge Music Centre employs between 15 and 20 music instructors from across the city on a contract basis and the centre has hundreds of students come through each year. According to Carter, over the years the business has become an extension of her family.

“We are very community-focused and family-focused,” she said. “So I feel like everyone that works here with us, we’re all great friends, we all work together not just here but outside the building too. We’re always collaborating together, performing together, recording together. I feel like we have a family here and a lot of our customers have become family.”

The centre will host an open house on Sat., May 30 between 12 and 5 p.m. During the open house there will be a concert in the parking lot (weather dependent) featuring some of the school’s students, teachers and bands. There will also be prizes and a chance to win free lessons. Carter says the open house is a chance to let the community know that the centre is still active, just down the block.

“It’s to show them that we’re still here doing what we do best,” she said.

Go to whyteridgemusic.com for more information.

Facebook.com/TheSouwesterWPG
Twitter: @SouwesterWPG

Report Error Submit a Tip

The Sou'wester

LOAD MORE