About
Teachers
Audrey Davis
Audrey started taking piano lessons at age 6 and went on to learn trumpet (which she played through college in marching band, concert band, and orchestra), violin, and French horn. She has been playing in the Bellevue Orchestra along with her husband since 1986. Before coming to Bellevue, Audrey enjoyed playing in the orchestra in various other churches where her husband served on staff. She also loves singing and enjoys participating in Bellevue Women’s worship team. She has been married to Steve for more than 25 years, and they have two children, Gloria and Philip, who are also part of the Bellevue Orchestra. Audrey earned a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy. She home educated her two children for 12 years and has taught piano, trumpet, and violin over the years. Her desire is to teach students to become more skilled on their instruments and use their abilities to bring glory to God. “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.” Psalm 33:3 (NIV)
Dan Davis
Dan is a Memphis native and a product of the Bellevue Music program. He participated in graded choirs, handbell ensembles, and the Bellevue Choir and Orchestra. He started piano at the age of 6 and went on to participate in high school band, orchestra, choir, and jazz band on both piano and drum set, making All-State in band, jazz band (on piano), and voice. For more than 30 years, he has been teaching private lessons in percussion, piano, and voice for Bellevue’s School of Performing Arts (SPA), for the Germantown Baptist Church Conservatory of Music, and privately.
After some time in college, Dan joined the United States Marine Corps to participate in their Field Band program. He served for eight years and was stationed in New Orleans, Louisiana, for four years with the 3rd Marine Airwing Band, now known as the Marine Forces Reserve Band. Dan went on to earn a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Memphis after leaving the military.
Since then, Dan has performed with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra as well as in various musical theatre productions and private engagements across the Mid-South. He taught elementary music for seven years with the former Memphis City Schools, specializing in Orff Schulwerk. Dan also earned a Master of Education from Union University during that time. Dan has been a life-long Bellevue member and is humbled and honored to continue to serve with SPA as well as in the Bellevue Orchestra and as a Life Group teacher.
Cindy Ruth
Cindy started playing the piano at age 7. As a teenager, she played the organ and piano for her church in Pennsylvania and sang in the choir. She also sang in her school choir and played the clarinet in the school band.
Her family have been Bellevue members since 1986, and Cindy has sung in the choir, the Singing Christmas Tree, patriotic programs, and the Passion Play. She has taught children’s music at Bellevue Arlington for three years, children’s Life Groups, K-WOW, and children’s worship.
Since 2000, Cindy has been teaching piano, has been a member of the Germantown-Collierville Area Piano Teachers Association (GCAPTA), and has had students participating in many festivals through GCAPTA, through local music store festivals, and through semi-annual recitals. She loves teaching music and observing students as they develop their musical skills.
Cindy’s husband, Tim, is the Set Construction Coordinator at Bellevue, and they love traveling and spending time with their four sons, three daughter-in-laws, and five grandchildren.
Emma Hampton
Emma recently graduated from the University of Memphis with a Bachelor’s in Music Business. She began playing piano at age 10, and having grown up in a musical family, she has always had a passion for music. From middle school to college, Emma was very involved in choir and regularly performed piano around her hometown of Dyersburg, Tennessee. Most often, you could find her accompanying her grandmother and friends at Dyersburg’s MacDowell Music Club and community events such as Pianos and Pastries.
Emma moved from Dyersburg to study Piano Performance at theUniversity of Memphis. After studying classical music at the collegiate level for two years, she switched her major to Music Business. She recently finished a two-year term serving at the GRAMMY U Memphis Chapter Representative for The Recording Academy and works at School of Rock.
She has been teaching at Bellevue for the last year and plans to stay in Memphis for now, but her dad is still hopeful she will move back home to fulfill his dream of having a family band, The Hamptones!
Anne Gardner
Anne was born and raised in Paris, Tennessee, and has always had a love for music. She began taking piano lessons at age 8 and continued throughout childhood, college years, and as an adult. She has been blessed to study with wonderful piano teachers at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary School of Church Music, the University of Memphis, Germantown Baptist Church (GBC) Conservatory of Music, and, currently, Bellevue’s School of Performing Arts (SPA).
Prior to her joining SPA staff, she was a piano teacher at GBC Conservatory for three and a half years. Anne has also worked for many years as an elementary school teacher, and it was in that vocation that she discovered teaching is not only a job but also a mission.
A piano teacher once shared with Anne that becoming a successful pianist is 5% the teacher and 95% the student. Therefore, Anne’s advice to anyone desiring to become a good musician is to practice, practice, PRACTICE!
One of Anne’s favorite Bible verses is Psalm 32:8 (KJV), in which the Lord says, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.”
Donna Browning
Donna holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music (Piano) and Elementary Education from Union University and is certified to teach instrumental music for grades K–12. Since graduating from college, Donna has taught private piano lessons and taught in various elementary schools in Fayette County and Shelby County as well as First Assembly Christian School. Most recently, she has been a music substitute for several schools and a class piano teacher for Shelby County Schools. While teaching class piano, Donna’s students performed each spring in the All-City Class Piano Recital.
Donna is a member of Bartlett Baptist Church, where she has taught children’s choir, interpretive movement, and vacation Bible school. She has also worked with youth groups, having gone on several mission trips. She has sung in the church choir as well as a ladies’ ensemble, played in the church orchestra, and played handbells.
Donna is always excited to help young musicians learn something that can bring joy to their lives and great sense of accomplishment.
Lisa Parker
Lisa graduated magna cum laude from Mississippi University for Women with a Bachelor of Music Education for kindergarten–12th grade.
She has taught children’s choirs in both private and public schools from 1976–1991, taught a 6th grade children’s choir at Bellevue under Carolyn Higginbotham from 1986–1998, and directed a Bellevue Boys Choir from 1993–2000.
Lisa has written and directed Bellevue’s SummerSing Children’s Musicals and CampOutrageous scripts in addition to the Singing Christmas Tree since 1991 and the Memphis Passion Play from 1992–2011.
She has also been a member of the Bellevue Adult Choir and praise band since 1990.
Lisa passionately believes that music is a gift from God. God has imbued power in music to encourage, comfort, convict, calm, and heal the body, soul, and spirit. Teaching children to experience, express, and create music should be part of every child’s early years.
Music experiences contribute to better social, math, reading, and listening development and plays a major role in creative expression. Music is breath.
Lee Stewart
Lee began piano lessons at age 5 through the Suzuki method. She went on to more traditional lessons and continued her studies through college. Lee earned a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Memphis while studying under Dan Fletcher. She served as the pianist for Ballet Memphis from 2002–2006 and the pianist for Dance Works ballet classes from 2001–2005.
Lee has a passion for making music. She enjoys playing four hands piano duets with her husband, singing in the Bellevue Adult Choir, and teaching music to children. Lee began teaching piano in 2001 and knows the value of studying an instrument, even if just for a season. Students gain confidence as they overcome challenges and experience musical growth. So, she believes lessons are an investment in a child, not just in a skill set.
Since 2005, Lee has been married to her favorite musician, Josh. They have three children.
Lee loves Psalm 57:7 (NIV), in which David says, “My heart, O God is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.”
School of Performing Arts
Bellevue’s School of Performing Arts (SPA) is a place where excellence in fine arts education and devotion to Christ are combined to provide families with a distinctly Christian artistic community of learning.