CRESTVIEW — Northwest Florida State College student Steven Knight can continue his piano studies at no cost over the next year.
The college freshman is the Pearl Mabry School of Music's first recipient of the Raymond Williams Memorial Scholarship, named for the late Crestview Baptist minister.
Knight performed during the new Main Street school’s Oct. 16 open house. While some of his selections were familiar — such as Beethvoven’s “Für Elise” — some were not.
That’s because they came straight from his head to his fingertips.
“There was just something about this young man,” Ryan Mabry, school owner and instructor, said. “What he does with the music is amazing because some of the greatest music is not written on a page.
"The greatest music has to come from somewhere inside of him.”
Opening the school — located above Ballet and Barre dance studio, opposite the Okaloosa County courthouse — fulfills a lifelong dream, Mabry said.
“I wanted to do something in my hometown to teach the music that enriched my life to the next generation,” he said.
Mabry’s studio is part of a Main Street arts renaissance that will include Fred Astaire Dance Studio's new home next door, and Casbah Coffee House’s new location around the corner.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Downtown Crestview music school introduces first scholarship recipient (PHOTOS)