When it comes to shaping young voices, Mr. Cooke is an expert. Mr. Cooke is the choir director at Charlottesville High School and he found his path to music education in an unexpected way. Reflecting on his journey, he happily admits that his love for choir teaching was “an absolute accident.”
Growing up, music was an essential part of Mr. Cooke’s community. “Everybody sang, it was just something that everyone did,” he recalls. However, it wasn’t until college that he seriously considered teaching choir. Mr. Cooke initially started with the trombone but decided that wasn’t his future. “I didn’t want to play the trombone for the rest of my life,” he said with a laugh, explaining how he switched to piano as his major instrument. He quickly learned, “If you play piano, you become a choir teacher.”
His journey to CHS itself was also quite unanticipated. Facing an important birthday – one of those “zero or five or nine birthdays” – he felt the need to make a change in his life. “It was one of those moments where you think, ‘I need to do something with my life,’” he explained. Mr. Cooke and his husband decided to relocate, applying for jobs in different areas. “We agreed, whoever got a job first, that’s where we would go.” Not long after, he was offered two positions in Charlottesville City Schools on the same day, and took the position at CHS.
Mr. Cooke’s passion for teaching is fueled by the students he works with every day. When asked what his favorite part of teaching is, he smiled, saying, “The students – you keep me in the know. You keep me knowing stuff.” As for musical role models, Mr. Cooke draws inspiration from the country music icon, Dolly Parton. He said, “She has universal appeal, and she’s incredibly generous with her resources.” Dolly Parton’s ability to use her influence for good is something he admires deeply.
When asked about some long-term goals for CHS choirs, the answer was straightforward yet powerful. Mr. Cooke simply said, “I want you to keep singing. I hope that when you leave this, you realize it’s not just about the music, but the community you find through it. You can find that anywhere you land in the world.”
With Mr. Cooke’s accidental journey leading to a successful career in music education, he hopes his students leave with more than just musical knowledge. He wants them to carry the sense of community that music provides, no matter where they go next.
