About | Bull City Music

Learning to Play,

Playing to Learn

INFLUENCE

At Bull City Music School, we believe influence is not what students say they can do—it’s what they show they can do. Our young musicians don’t hide their gifts; they rise to the moment. They step onto recital stages, stand before adjudicators, learn from master teachers, and carry their music into the heart of the community. Everywhere they go, their excellence speaks for them.

INSPIRE

At Bull City Music School, we believe inspiration begins with seeing every child as a masterpiece in progress. Our teachers shape instruction around the student—honoring their pace, their learning style, and their unique way of making meaning—because when you teach the child before you, you awaken the musician within them.

IMPACT

At Bull City Music School, we believe impact is more than playing the right notes—it’s using your gift to change the world around you. Our students learn that musicianship carries responsibility: to lift their communities, to serve with their art, and to let their music become a force for good. Because when a child understands the power of their craft, they don’t just make music—they make a difference.

There are some stories that don’t begin with a business plan—they begin with a calling. Jeanetta Powell’s story is one of them. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, she came into a world where music was not a hobby but a heritage, not an extracurricular but an inheritance. She grew up surrounded by a people who understood that art is not entertainment—it is survival, identity, and testimony.

Before she ever taught a child, before she ever opened a studio, before she ever led a choir or built a program, Jeanetta was shaped by a lineage of brilliance. She learned the language of classical and jazz from her uncle, the legendary Rozelle Claxton, who showed her that music could be both discipline and liberation. She learned the soul of Gospel under Linda Herring, where music became ministry. She learned the elegance of the viola from Mary Ann Snyder, where excellence was expected, not optional.

These were not just teachers. They were architects of her becoming.

Jeanetta carried that foundation to Jackson State University, where she earned her Bachelor of Music Education and served as Principal Violist, performing with distinction and leading with quiet authority. Her commitment to learning did not stop there. She went on to earn her Master of Educational Leadership and completed graduate coursework at Seton Hall University, deepening her understanding of how to build, lead, and sustain transformative learning communities.

Her journey took her through classrooms, sanctuaries, military chapels, and community centers across Tennessee, Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina. Everywhere she went, she built something—programs, partnerships, choirs, leaders, and hope.

Jeanetta
Powell

For more than 20 years, she has been an educator, administrator, advocate, and visionary. She has trained teachers, coached young musicians into scholarships, led diocesan initiatives, managed budgets with integrity, and created programs that uplift families and strengthen communities. She is known for her ability to gather people, build trust, and turn possibility into practice.

And then came the moment of revelation—the moment when calling met courage. In 2017, Jeanetta founded Bull City Music School not simply to teach music, but to create a sanctuary for children to be seen, celebrated, and stretched. A place where children could experience classical training without cultural erasure. A place where families could find community. A place where excellence is wrapped in joy, discipline is wrapped in love, and every child learns to stand a little taller.

Under her leadership, Bull City Music School has become more than a studio—it is a movement. A movement rooted in love. A movement shaped by respect. A movement committed to cultivating confidence, creativity, and cultural pride.

Jeanetta Powell stands as a reminder that when you honor your gifts, you honor God. When you invest in children, you invest in the future. And when you build with intention, you build something that lasts.

Bull City Music School is her offering. Her legacy. Her love letter to the community.

And the story is still being written.

Today, Jeanetta instills love, respect, and self-confidence in all of her students.