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5 5 | Friday July 2 8 , 2 0 1 7 | O A K V IL L E B E A V E R | w w w .in sid e h alto n .co m Marta Marychuk Reporter mmarychuk@oakvillebeaver.com Artscene "Connected to your Community " Oakville piano teacher hitting all the right notes by Marta Marychuk Oakville Beaver Staff Linda Gray was recently named 2016 Steinway piano teacher of the year for dedication to her students and passing her love of m usic onto the next generation of piano students. The award, presented by the Steinway Piano Gallery in Toron to, is given annually to a teacher in the Greater Toronto Area for outstanding instruction and lead ership in piano education. Gray, w ho has more than 25 years of experience in piano the ory and teaching, had a banner year w ith her students picking up a number of awards at com peti tions. She is also on the executive board of the Ontario Registered Music Teachers Association Etobicoke-M ississauga branch. Gray studied piano from Harry Jones, w ho came to her hom e to give her private lessons. "He was amazing," com m ented Gray. "He was really awesome. "Piano became m y life. It taught m e how to get through things." Gray spent days playing the pia no for her mother, a kidney trans plant recipient, w hen she was sick at home. Gray' s students had success in the Annual Peel Music Festival, where students com e from differ ent com m unities to participate in a m onth long celebration, and the also the ORMTA Scholarship re cital, where students m ust achieve a mark of 84 per cent or better to qualify for the year-end com peti tion. Gray, w ho runs the Linda Gray' s Piano Academy, said the honour was com pletely unexpected. "It' s quite an honour but to me Linda Gray, who has more than 25 years of experience in piano theory and teaching, had a banner year with her students picking up a number of awards at competitions. | Submitted the real reward is in watching my young students grow and learn," she said. "I grew up in a m usical family and I love passing on the joy of m usic onto the next generation of kids. "No other held of w ork could give me the satisfaction I have. W atching the little hngers playing m usic of the great composers... w ill always have m y heart." Oakville Centre goes digital with new flat screen display monitors Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts has gone digital with the installation of new hat screen display monitors. The six display monitors, that are located in the theatre' s lobby, replace the old poster boards. "We are trying to align operations with the Digital Strategy of the Town' s, w hich is Oakville' s road map to becom e the m ost dig itally connected com m unity in the Greater Toronto Area," said Robin Howarth, man ager of the Oakville Centre for the Perform ing Arts. Howarth said they partnered w ith Design Electronics to provide som ething that' s more engaging, provides better functionality, re duces the theatre' s ecological footprint and cuts print costs. The display monitors also allow more of a "w ow factor" for theatre pa trons. The centre is constructing a new front entrance canopy, w hich has a more contem porary design, and is working w ith another company to have a similar panel installed outside, said Howarth. The new entrance is expected to be com plete in September. "W hen w e learned that the centre wanted to go digital in its marketing efforts, Design Electronics jum ped right in to help them ," said Clinton Howell, Director of Custom Residential Sales and Marketing. "Technology is taking over these days and w e wanted to help the Centre make the tran sition from paper to digital seamless on ev ery level," Howell added. Howell said Design Electronics subsidized all of the costs for the top-of-the-line Sharp hat-screen displays as w ell as labour for in stallation.