Walk past Rontray Miller’s classroom on any given weekday and you’ll likely see a group of elementary school-aged students laughing, dancing and singing. They’re not a class out of control; they’re actually learning life skills through music.

“Music is one of those things where you can’t really test on paper how well people do,” Rontray said. “It’s literally about building community, building social relationships and teaching children how to build social relationships and emotional relationships through something as vulnerable as music.”

Rontray is the director for Corners Academy’s music program. His music classes are something each child who attends the Academy’s after-school tutoring program participates in at both Corners’ Gwinnett and DeKalb county locations. He uses lessons in things like music history, musical notes, dance and rhythm to help his students build confidence in themselves and better understand the world.

“Corners stands for cultural diversity; [there are] many different walks and ways of life that people are coming from,” Rontray said. “With music education, you’re able to dive into so many different cultures — whether it’s language or traditional folk songs for specific regions or specific times — and the beauty is, because it’s so foreign, it naturally drives questioning. So we’re able to learn about other cultures outside of ourselves and have a broader perspective of the world we live in.”

He also said music also allows Corners students, who predominately come from Hispanic families, to celebrate and embrace the vibrant, rich traditions of their culture.

Rontray’s own love and passion for music developed from classes he had in elementary school. In college, he studied opera and received his bachelor's degree in vocal performance from Georgia State University in 2020. But, because of the Covid pandemic, there weren’t many performance opportunities.

“There was nothing else to do but continue my education at the time,” he said.

He went back to school and completed his master's degree in conducting. Through that program, he fell in love with music education.

Before coming to Corners Outreach in 2024, Rontray taught students in an early learning program and at a middle school. He also directed collegiate choirs and a barbershop chorus. He’s currently a church music director in addition to his role at Corners.

Even with his resume, background and accolades, he was initially a bit nervous coming to Corners. He had never taught elementary students or a program like Corners Academy Early Learning that includes both the parent and child in the class. He said his initial apprehension quickly went away because of the support of the Academy staff and the students.

“It’s been wonderful,” he said. “After the first month, every kid started running into my class and putting their backpacks down [to start]. They’re so attentive and excited to learn.”

Although teaching is different from being on stage, he said he loves being able to bring performance, music making and musical conversations to Corners students, building community within the classroom along the way.

This is most prevalent in the Corners Academy elementary program where Rontray works with children from kindergarten through eighth grade to build confidence in singing around others and how to express their feelings through music.

Rontray said music education is an important part of the Corners Academy program because it allows them to potentially discover new passions and interests, similar to his own classroom music experience.

“My goal is to just expose the children to as much music as possible before they go into middle and high school, to help them decide what they really want to do,” he said, noting that early exposure to music helped shape the direction of his life. “I want to make sure that these children have that same opportunity.”

In addition to the Early Learning classes and the general music program for Elementary Academy students, Corners Music Academy offers a choir program for students in kindergarten through 5th grade. Students who enroll in this additional activity perform at community events including Dunwoody’s Latino Hispanic Cultural Heritage Celebration in September each year.

The Academy also offers limited private music lessons for students in kindergarten through 12th grade in voice, piano, violin and viola. These lessons and the choir are offered at a nominal cost to families.

Rontray said he’d like to see these offerings grow. To do that, he’s looking for people interested in helping teach music lessons and for people willing to donate instruments to the program.

Since he started, Rontray said he’s seen his students grow in their joy of music as well as their leadership and confidence, giving him the motivation to keep working harder for them each day.

“Being able to reach people through music is what makes me get up out of bed every morning and do what I love to do,“ he said.

Those interested in learning more about teaching music lessons or donating instruments to the Corners Music Academy can contact Rontray at rontray.miller@cornersoutreach.org.

Building Harmony: How Corners Music Academy Uses Music to Unite, Inspire and Empower Students