Betty Spalding has taught in conservatories and music departments in Canada and the Caribbean since 1969, when she graduated from Andrews University with B.Mus.Ed. A violinist, she received two violin performance scholarships from the Alberta, Canada, government and other scholarship awards from AU, while doing her undergraduate work.

She established the Patterson Conservatory in Kamloops, Canada, and formed an orchestra in association with Red Deer College, and a youth orchestra while residing in that area. She was also conductor of the first pops orchestra and the Animato Chamber Orchestra during that time.

Following completion of an M.Mus. at AU in 1987, Spalding taught at Antillian Adventist University in Puerto Rico and then at Northern Caribbean University in Jamaica, beginning in 2003. In the latter, she conducted the University Choir and the Symphonic Choir, which included both students and faculty, and was Assistant Director of the National Adventist Choir. While working with the NAC, she and the choir assisted Sandi Patti when she visited the island and gave two concerts in 2003.

While at NCU, Spalding, who uses the Suzuki approach in teaching strings, developed a string program and started a chamber orchestra, The Philharmonic Violins. In her last year at NCU (2005-2006), she also founded and directed the Jamaica Young Persons Orchestra in Kingston, an outreach program open to all string players in the region.

ds/2007