{"id":31693,"date":"2023-09-16T22:21:37","date_gmt":"2023-09-17T04:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-teacher-uses-passion-for-music-to-inspire-students-pursue-a-career\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:44:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:44:41","slug":"dolores-teacher-uses-passion-for-music-to-inspire-students-pursue-a-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-teacher-uses-passion-for-music-to-inspire-students-pursue-a-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolores teacher uses passion for music to inspire students, pursue a career"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bentley
Bentley Monk is a musician and music teacher at Dolores schools. (Bentley Monk Facebook\/Courtesy Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Bentley Monk, a Dolores music teacher, uses his passion for music to pursue a career as a musician while teaching and inspiring his students.<\/p>\n

Monk reminisced about his career in music, saying he first fell in love with music when he was 7 or 8 years old and saw the music video \u201cFor Paradise\u201d by Guns n Roses for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI immediately thought to myself, \u2018I want to be a singer of a rock and roll band,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After that, he could be found singing everywhere he went, even the hallways of his school.<\/p>\n

As an eighth grader, he was walking down the hall singing \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d when a teacher asked him to join the school choir. After that, Monk went on to try out for a performing arts high school in Atlanta although he had no formal training in singing, dancing or acting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was mostly an athlete,\u201d he said. \u201cI played basketball, baseball, did track and field and did a lot of BMX. But then I got into this performing arts program, and the entire trajectory of my life changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his time at his performing arts high school, Monk received training in music theater and Broadway-type performing and learned the art of singing, acting and dancing.<\/p>\n

\"Bentley
Bentley Monk performs in Mancos earlier this year. (Reece Blincoe\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Monk graduated from his performing arts high school and attended Oklahoma City University, where he obtained his bachelor\u2019s degree in performance music theater on a full scholarship.<\/p>\n

After graduating from OCU, Monk began a career in music and performing. He performed for a couple of different national tours and regional theaters, before working at Disney World as a singer and performer in front of Cinderella\u2019s castle for six months.<\/p>\n

It was a youth camp toward the end of Monk\u2019s time at Disney, however, that shifted his trajectory toward teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized that my path in life was not necessarily performing and working with adults. I found that I worked better with kids,\u201d Monk said. \u201cI then decided, OK, maybe it\u2019s time to change paths.\u201d<\/p>\n

While obtaining his master\u2019s degree at the University of Georgia, Monk doubled up to get his bachelor\u2019s in education. Sleep and extra time fell off while Monk took 17 to 19 credit hours of classes per semester and worked nights and weekends, but he said the challenge prepared him to become who he is today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one thing that I\u2019ve learned as I\u2019ve gotten older \u2013 is that if you put your mind to something and you really want it, there\u2019s nothing that can really get in the way of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One of his first teaching jobs landed him in an inner-city school in Atlanta where he taught music to 70 to 80 students at a time. Soon, many of his students were accepted into the same performing arts high school he attended and went on to have music and performing arts careers of their own.<\/p>\n

Monk didn\u2019t stay on the East Coast for long. Soon, he began teaching at a school that bordered the south rim of the Grand Canyon, and it was in that town that Monk met his wife, Amala Posey-Monk.<\/p>\n

During their free time, Monk and Posey traveled to Southwest Colorado and spent time hiking, mountain biking and vacationing. Soon, Southwest Colorado began to feel like home.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I discovered Phil\u2019s World, I was never the same,\u201d Monk joked. \u201cI rode the Rib Cage like 10 times the first time I rode at Phil\u2019s World.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Posey was offered a job at Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center and Museum during winter 2019, they jumped at the chance to move to the Four Corners area. When a position for a music teacher opened in Dolores schools, he applied and became the only music teacher at Dolores in March 2020.<\/p>\n

Because he is the only music teacher, Monk combines a variety of ages into his classroom, making for a challenging yet unique learning experience for students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a challenge, but at the same time, I\u2019ve always loved challenges,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He teaches a variety of music classes, including a class that is a combination of marching band and pep band, concert band, jazz, rock and roll band and more.<\/p>\n

This year, he will teach a new course in Colorado called modern band, defined as \u201cany music made in Western culture of America since 1950\u201d including a mix of early rock, blues, country, R&B, soul, rap, electronic dance and more.<\/p>\n

Monk said his goal is to foster his students\u2019 love of music and help them pursue it if that\u2019s their dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal for this program is not to be a marching band program that sends kids off to college, but creates performers that come into this community as soon as they graduate and start professional work like I am because there\u2019s a lot of great opportunities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Monk
Monk describes his sound as an \u201cATL, Atlanta, hip hop sort of country version of Ed Sheeran.\u201d (Bentley Monk Facebook\/Courtesy Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Monk decided to dust off his performing side during COVID. He learned how to be a one-man band and jumped at the opportunity to take gigs once people were able to perform in public again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI use a loop pedal and a bunch of effects pedals to create a soundscape,\u201d Monk explained. \u201cThen it sounds like a full band, even though it\u2019s just me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more like an ATL, Atlanta, hip hop sort of country version of Ed Sheeran,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Monk has become a familiar name through his performances at events such as the Dolores River Fest and Dolores Summer Fest, and he\u2019s become a regular performer at the Mancos Brewery, doing 30 to 35 gigs, weddings and performances a season, which normally lasts from the end of April through the middle of October.<\/p>\n

One thing that stands out to Monk, however, is that his performing is not just about him, but that it is also a family affair, saying that his wife and two children come to his performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a normal weekend activity for them,\u201d he said. \u201cMy wife and kids are there with me dancing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this summer, some of Monk\u2019s students saw him perform at the Dolores Summer Fest.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of my students came, and I didn\u2019t know they were coming,\u201d he said. \u201cThey walked up and sat right in front of me and they never left, which was really special to me. You know, you\u2019re a teacher. You teach these kids all day long, all year long. You don\u2019t really know what kind of impact you\u2019re going to have on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Monk
Monk in 2020 with a group of students. (Bentley Monk Facebook\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Monk said he hopes that his music and teaching career will show students they don\u2019t have to limit themselves to a job they don\u2019t like just to make money, saying that it is possible to do what you love and do more than one thing.<\/p>\n

In parting, Monk shared advice he would give others hoping to pursue their passions, saying that anything is possible if you put your mind and heart into it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe willing to be tired. Be willing to (mentally) fight for what you want and pursue what you love,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t love what you do, go find something that you do, because life is short.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those who wish to contact Monk about the music program at Dolores can reach out to him at (970) 729-8142 or email bmonk@dolores.k12.co.us<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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