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A R T & C U L T U R E
Laura Barrett
Musician, Local Business Owner and Instructor
Barrett School of Music
musicschoolintampa.com
Laura Barrett is a musician, business
owner, music instructor and Tampa
native. She grew up a musician,
her mom at the age of 4, but the
drained the passion out of her by the
time she graduated from college.
Feeling stuck with a music degree,
she taught a few private lessons to
a handful of kids in South Tampa,
late in 2011. They all had one thing
in common – zero interest in music.
Laura loved that. She found a new
way to tap into her creativity by
approach to teaching. Each students’
lesson became artistic expression for
Barrett. She used music of interest
for each student and used that
genre to highlight students’ natural
strengths and empower them as
musicians. She recounts those days
comically, as she taught Star Wars,
Greek music, musical theater, and
so on.
contentment and pride in her work,
all the while building a business
unknowingly. In 2015, Barrett had
more students than she could
handle. In fact, for almost a year
before that, she had been turning
away students on a weekly basis.
An entrepreneur friend overheard
her decline a new student on the
phone one day and persuaded
her to interview some potential
teachers. Barrett took what seemed
like an astronomical risk at the time
and hit the ground running. Again,
this different application of music
morphing into a business unleashed
her creativity in a way the craft itself
consists of 12 teachers, educating
students of all ages in voice, piano,
guitar, drums, violin, viola, cello and
bass. In August 2017, Barrett School
of Music launched in Miami as well
and has been well-received. Laura
loves the balance of her life today –
running the business, teaching and
performing as an opera, jazz and
pop singer in Tampa and Miami.
Each musical facet creates space for
Laura’s love of music to grow and
empower others in the same way.