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Clara Jones, who taught music over 60 years as a private instructor and a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teacher, died Feb. 7 at age 91.

Kids were always in Clara Jones’ house.

For more than six decades, they showed up at her Lincoln Heights home to learn music, ultimately growing to the point she expanded the house six times to handle the demand – as well as her collection of 26 pianos and a pair of organs. Mrs. Jones, who also taught in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, died Feb. 7 at age 91.

At the height of her teaching, the home Mrs. Jones shared with her husband Cedric and three children of their own bustled with daily activity, with multiple students honing their skills in different rooms. Mrs. Jones moved from one place to the next, blending her passions: teaching and music.

“I like having a lot of rooms because if I’m teaching one child something and if that child has to master it, then I can go to another child and teach that child a skill,” she said in a 2010 interview. “Then he has time to master that skill. You can practice by yourself. You stay an hour if you know your music. If you don’t know your music, you stay until you learn.”

In order to accommodate the growing need for studio space, Mrs. Jones and her husband Cedric expand their home. As a result, the piano collection – vertical and horizontal, console and studio, baby grand and ballroom grand – swelled.

Patrice Johnson, one of Mrs. Jones’ students in the 1980s, remembers when the collection – and the Jones' ranch-style home – were modest in size.

“She had three [pianos] — a grand or baby grand in her living area and two regular pianos right in the middle of the house,” Johnson said. “It was just three. When she got to be Clara, she was well on her way, and everybody started referring their kids, she was doing additions.”

Two grand pianos — Mrs. Jones’ favorites — dominated the recital hall, along with an electric and a pair of large organs. She also kept the Baldwin piano she took her first lesson on as a 10-year-old, its brown pigment aged and worn by years of play but perfectly tuned for practice.

Mrs. Jones was exposed to music early by her mother, who was a church pianist and was the inspiration for her life of service.

“My mother played piano beautifully; she sang beautifully, too,” said Mrs. Jones, who was the longtime pianist at First Baptist Church-West, where she was a member. “Her father was a minister, so she had no choice. She played for church every Sunday. I came up with a lot of music in my home.”

Mrs. Jones became a full-time instructor in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in the 1950s when a school principal neighbor convinced her to apply. Anyone who wanted to show up for chorus and piano lessons could participate.

“I couldn’t keep count,” she said. “There are too many of them. When I was at York Road [High School in the 1960s], I taught as many as 100 children at one time in one classroom.”

It wasn’t until after retiring from public school teaching that things started to really grow. She began a second career as a private instructor, and word of her abilities spread throughout Charlotte. With every new student, and piano, the need for expansion became more pronounced. Even with the demands, Mrs. Jones managed to handle it with grace and ease.

“If you say children, she lights up,” said Dee Dolby, a retired school administrator told The Post in a 2010 article. “When you’re doing what you like as your life’s work, you do what she does, which is reach many youths who’ve needed her guidance and direction. She’s just a dynamic person with a heart of gold who is motivated to do something to help people.”

Mrs. Jones’ influence spreads beyond her studio. First Baptist Church-West sponsors the Clara H. Jones Summer Institute, a six-week program to develop fine arts, math, reading, and science skills for children in grades 1-9. She also took on low-income students, which added to her legacy.

“I’ve known her to reach out to kids who couldn’t afford lessons,” Dolby said. “She’s got a big heart, and I would dare say there have been times when parents couldn’t afford lessons, and it was a gift. She’s just that kind of person.”

Nobody mistook Mrs. Jones as easy-going, though.

“She pushed when I wasn’t confident in my ability to get in front of people or my musical ability,” Johnson said. “She would push me into competitions that I thought were far out of my league, but I couldn’t quite see [my ability] at the time. I think that gave me a little more motivation, drive, and push.”

Lechetze Lewis, a 2010 Myers Park High School graduate who studied under Mrs. Jones, credited her firm but caring teaching style with helping her earned academic and music scholarships at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Mrs. Jones’ insistence on discipline – no matter how talented the student – helped Lewis pay attention to detail.

“Her favorite saying is, ‘No excuses,’” Lewis told The Post in 2010. “I started here when I was 6, and the first thing I learned was, Miss Jones takes no excuses. I learned to always bring my books from home and always practice, and it helped in my classes at Myers Park.

“She has such a reverence for music itself. You’re kind of scared of her a little bit, but you respect her because she adores music.”

That’s what drew Mrs. Jones to music. And teaching.

“I’ve never, ever needed a job in my entire life,” she said. “I’ve always had offers. I wouldn’t teach one day if I didn’t really love it.”

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