Rocking Kansan- Matt Gerry

Tanner Colvin
Aug 3
2 min read

Matt Gary is a music educator and guitar teacher who has spent the past 24 years teaching at South Middle School in Salina, Kansas. A Salina native, Matt discovered his passion for music as a young person through singing, acting and eventually playing guitar. His father’s acoustic guitar became the instrument that captured his attention, and during high school, Matt became increasingly involved in choir, band and musical theater. Inspired by his own teachers, he ultimately chose to pursue music education, knowing that teaching was the path he wanted to follow.

When Matt began teaching at South Middle School in 2003, guitar was not yet a part of the school’s music curriculum. Determined to change that, he wrote a grant through the Salina Education Foundation that helped provide a classroom set of guitars. He began incorporating guitar into his classes, and the response from students and parents eventually led to the creation of a dedicated guitar class in 2010. What started with a single group of students has grown into a thriving program, with Matt teaching guitar exclusively at the middle school. Along the way, his students have earned national recognition, including winning a Weezer contest that brought Matt to Chicago to meet the band and resulted in new instruments for the classroom. In 2017, his students also won a regional Radio Disney competition, earning additional funding for guitars and a televised performance opportunity.

Beyond the classroom, Matt has worked to expand music education opportunities throughout the Salina community. He teaches guitar through the Mike Finnigan School of Music at the Stiefel Theatre and has helped connect his students with professional musicians by bringing them to concerts, sound checks and even backstage experiences. He has also performed alongside his wife and daughter in Theatre Salina’s production of School of Rock. Matt was nominated for the Grammy Music Educator Award and continues to advocate for guitar as a meaningful part of music education. His goal is not simply to teach students how to play an instrument, but to show them the value of practice, perseverance, collaboration and creativity. For Matt, putting a guitar in the hands of a young person can be transformative—and he hopes to one day help other music educators bring that same experience to their own classrooms.