Welcome to Music 1 with Mr. C! I am so excited to join the staff at Malala Elementary, and I am eager to get started making music with our Leopards! I am entering my sixth year of teaching overall, and my first year at Malala Elementary. I formerly taught at Seguin Elementary.

This class provides students with the opportunity to learn, express, and grow through music. Activities will include singing, dancing, listening exercises, playing instruments, and learning about music from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America.

I was born and raised in Maryland, where I attended the University of Maryland and obtained a Bachelor's degree in Music Education, with an emphasis on vocal music. Singing was a big part of my childhood, from singing along to Motown with my mother and Persian music with my father, to playing the flute and oboe in band, to singing with our school's choir, and even performing with our musical theater programs.

This passion continued into my adulthood, as I pursued a career in performance. I moved to Houston, Texas in 2013 to study vocal performance and pedagogy at the University of Houston. I have been privileged to sing professionally throughout the country, from Washington, D.C. to Portland, Oregon. I am also a member of the Houston Chamber Choir, a Grammy-award-winning professional choir.

However, my deepest passion is to share music with my community. Much of my performing work involved community outreach programs for children, and as a Kodaly-based music educator, I work to instill a love of a wide variety of music in my students. This year in Music 1, we will move to music and sing folk songs from around the world, working toward the goal of drawing our awareness to the differences between sounds, the patterns we recognize in music, and the ability to read music. We will also prepare for grade-level programs for K-5.

For the 2023-2024 school year, we will continue MYE's choir program! This is an auditioned group4th and 5th graders, who will have opportunities to perform at school and in the greater community. 4th and 5th grade families, please keep an eye on your e-mail for further information if your child is interested in singing.