music · band · chorus
 
   
 
 
"It has often been said that children and youth are the future of the church. This is a true statement, but only if the children are the “present” of the church as well. If they are not taught to serve in leadership capacities in the worship and daily life of today’s church, there will be no future."


—michael bedford,

dir. music, composer in residence

st. john’s episcopal church tulsa, ok

Welcome to Music · Band · Chorus!
Music K-8

Mitzi Cole teaches music education and arrived at Star of the Sea School in 2001. She earned her undergraduate degree in Music Education and Performance from Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, Virginia and is currently working on her master’s degree in education with a concentration in Teaching in the Church School at Regent University in Virginia Beach. She plans to graduate in 2009. She has completed levels I and II in Orff certification.  Mitzi holds membership in MENC (Music Educator’s National Conference) and VBODA (The Virginia Band and Orchestra Director’s Association).

The music curriculum at Star of the Sea School includes general music classes for grades preschool through eighth grade. Mrs. Cole instructs the students in the Orff Schulwerk pedagogy. Orff Schulwerk, as designed by composer Carl Orff, is a way to teach music and movement. His philosophies follow the theories of Lev Vygotsky who figured that children learn through speech and social interaction. In the Orff classroom children sing, chant rhymes, play instruments, and perform movement activities. Students at Star of the Sea School play Orff instruments (xylophones and metalophones), various drums and rhythm instruments, boomwhackers, and recorders. During music class, students prepare musical selections to offer as praise to God in the monthly liturgies and paraliturgies.

Mrs. Cole plans and directs Carol Night, Star of the Sea’s annual Christmas program. All students perform musical selections that surround the Christmas play performed by the eighth grade. In recent years, this program has been held at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.

Concert Band is open to students in Grades Five through Eight. The band participates in the school liturgies, the Thanksgiving Prayer Service, Carol Night, and at Graduation. Students in the band have participated in the District II Regional Band since 2007.

Starting in the fall of 2008, Mrs. Cole will begin a new guitar class for students in grades six through eight. This new class will be for acoustic steel string guitar. Students will learn the basic chords and strumming patterns. They will also learn to play melodies for ensemble playing. The students will be preparing to play for the school Liturgies.