Mission Parish School Music Program

Music flows throughout the entire curriculum at Mission Parish School. On any given day, walking through the halls, you might observe students gaining competence in musical concepts and skills as they prepare for various religious services and educational presentations. You may hear Kindergartners singing in Spanish about elephants and bears, Second graders preparing songs for their First Communion, the flutelike sounds of the recorder or the developing voices of our Eighth grade cantors as they prepare for Mass!

Our music program at Mission Parish School is twofold. We instill the love of music in every child mainly via their own instrument - their voice. We teach the children liturgical music, so they can fully participate in Mass while developing their voice and appreciation of the liturgy. With singing as an aid, the children fully experience the basic elements of music to become musically literate.

Throughout the year, there are several performances and special Masses for which we prepare our students, including our United Nations Day performance, the Christmas Program, St. Joseph's Day Mass and May Crowning. Each class celebrates special retreat days. Worship through singing strengthens their personal spirit-filled experience on those days. Many of our classes have performed at a local retirement home, bringing the joy of their song into the hearts of the elderly. Our students have used their talent and their time to do what Christ would do if he were still walking on this earth.

When there is no performance or Mass to prepare for, we continue to develop the children's musical path toward complete music literacy: the ability to read and write music, as well as thorough ear-training in singing and instrumental experience via use of recorders, body movement and hand motions. This curriculum is based on philosophies and concepts taken from the Kodaly and Orff approaches to music education.

For students who have extra interest in singing, we also have a Mission Parish School Choir and an annual Spring Musical, produced by Mission Parish School Youth Theatre. Our school band, led by Dave Weinberg, director of the Santa Margarita Catholic High School Band offers a wonderful opportunity for our students who are interested in pursuing training with a musical instrument.

We have been selected by the Orange County Pacific Symphony to participate in their Class Act program bringing the orchestra and their musicians into the classroom. Class Act provides a musician from the PSO to come and teach about a Composer of the Year as well as the instrument of the musician. A CD and book are given to each classroom for further study. The children are then treated to a private small group performance for friends and family at the Mission Basilica followed by a "Meet the Musician" Ice Cream Social. The program culminates in a field trip to listen and observe the orchestra in a concert each May. After several years of the program, the children have come to know many members of the orchestra further developing their music appreciation.