About Us
Learning to Play, Playing to Learn
“We don’t add culture to our curriculum."
"Culture is our curriculum.”
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OUR MISSION
Bull City Music School gives every child rigorous musical training rooted in the richness of the Black musical tradition. We offer classical instruction without cultural erasure, in a welcoming community where every family belongs.
OUR PRINCIPLES
Everything we teach rests on three pillars: Influence, Inspire and Impact. We believe music builds discipline, confidence and character, and that those gifts serve a child for life, whether or not they become professional musicians.
OUR LEGACY
Since 2017, BCMS students have taken the stage at recitals, festivals and our annual Musical Nutcracker at the Hayti Heritage Center. In 2027 we celebrate ten years of young musicians who don’t just make music. They make a difference.
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INFLUENCE
Influence isn’t what students say they can do.
It’s what they show.
Our musicians rise to the moment on recital stages, before adjudicators and in the heart of the community.
Inspire
Every child is a masterpiece in progress.
Our teachers honor each student’s pace and learning style, because when you teach the child before you, you awaken the musician within
Impact
Musicianship carries responsibility.
Our students learn to lift their communities, serve with their art, and let their music become a force for good.
Meet the Founder and Director
Jeanetta C. Powell
Jeanetta Powell founded Bull City Music School in 2017 with a simple conviction: every child deserves classical training without cultural erasure. Now in its ninth year, BCMS is where Durham families find rigorous instruction, a warm community, and a curriculum where culture is not an add-on. It is the foundation.
A classically trained pianist, violinist and violist, Jeanetta brings more than 20 years of teaching experience across Montessori, independent and public schools in Tennessee, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina. She earned her Bachelor of Music Education from Jackson State University, where she served as Principal Violist, and her Master of Education in Educational Leadership from Grand Canyon University. Over her career she has trained teachers, built music programs from the ground up, and coached young musicians into scholarships.
Her own musical formation began in Memphis. There she studied classical and jazz with her uncle, the legendary Rozelle Claxton, learned Gospel under Linda Herring, and studied viola with Mary Ann Snyder. Those teachers showed her that excellence and joy belong together, and that is the standard she holds at BCMS.
Jeanetta teaches the child in front of her. She honors each student’s pace and learning style while expecting real growth on the recital stage and beyond. She also serves as Music Director at St. Mark AME Zion Church in Durham’s historic Hayti community, on the executive board of her local NAACP ACT-SO program, and in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, INC.
She is completing her Master of Divinity at Duke Divinity School.