Mira Costa Music ensembles
Mira Costa Orchestras
Director - Peter Park
Located in the Los Angeles suburb of Manhattan Beach, the orchestra program at Mira Costa High School began in the Fall of 2002 with a string orchestra of 19 students. Under the leadership of orchestra director Mr. Peter Park, the Mira Costa Orchestra Program has grown to involve over 150 student musicians.
Known for presenting diverse and quality programming, Mira Costa Orchestras prepare multiple concerts annually, drawing from the major orchestral repertoire. Since the Spring of 2010, they have premiered nine new compositions written expressly for them, including an original piece by GRAMMY and multiple Emmy Award-winning composer Lee Holdridge.
Mira Costa Orchestras have presented numerous times at state-level music education conferences while performing at internationally renowned venues including Beijing Concert Hall, the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Bella Concert Hall in Calgary, Palau de la Música de València, Palau de Música Catalan in Barcelona, and twice each at Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall. The advanced ensembles in the Mira Costa Orchestra Program have earned the highest ratings possible at every festival and contest they have taken part in.
The music department at Mira Costa operates at a high level of artistic ambition and achievements. In 2012, the Mira Costa Orchestras were selected for a premiere status partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 2014, they were awarded the prestigious GRAMMY® Signature Gold Award for being a top three high school music program in the United States. In 2015, the California Department of Education designated Mira Costa High School as a Gold Ribbon School through the strength of its Performing Arts Department.
Mira Costa Bands
Director - Joel Carlson
Under the direction of Joel Carlson, the GRAMMY® award winning Mira Costa Bands are part of the comprehensive music department at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, CA, and have been hailed by professional critics and adjudicators alike for fantastic performances of advanced high school, collegiate and professional repertoire in concerts, festivals and competitions from coast to coast.
The bands have entertained crowds of thousands at large concert venues in the South Bay and were most recently featured in their Carnegie Hall debut on the Spring 2016 Concert Series of Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY). From the Concert Ensembles to the Jazz Ensembles and the Marching Ensembles, the Mira Costa Bands provide a breadth of opportunity to students to perform at the highest level of excellence.
Mira Costa Choirs
Director - Kate Crellin
Kate Crellin (she/her) is an award-winning educator, composer/arranger, and vocalist. Kate holds a Master in Choral Conducting from Queens’ College, Cambridge in England. She also earned double Bachelor’s Degree in Choral Music and Law, History & Culture from the University of Southern California.
As an educator, Kate has taught pre-K through 12th-grade music in both public and private schools across Los Angeles. She is currently a Choir Director for Mira Costa High School, Manhattan Beach Middle School and National Children’s. Chorus.
As a vocalist, she has performed across the world, singing with the Rolling Stones, David Crosby, Eric Whitacre, Pentatonix, and touring across eight countries. She is active in the contemporary a cappella scene as a freelance arranger, performer, and staff member of A Cappella Academy. Kate is a published composer with pieces under Heritage Press and Alfred Press, and was recently recognized as an “Editor’s Choice” by JW Pepper. To learn more about Kate, visit her website. www.katecrellin.com
Music Theory
Music Theory
Music Theory is the name for a branch of study that includes many different methods for analyzing, classifying, and composing music and the elements of music. Music theory generally attempts to reduce the practice of composing and playing into rules and ideas. It includes the study of the theoretical elements of music such as sound and pitch, rhythm, melody, harmony, and notation.
Mira Costa offers two Music Theory courses.
CP Music Theory
This is an introductory course that teaches students to read and write music. Students will learn how to compose, interpret and analyze music from various styles and periods. Emphasis will be placed on mastery of basic concepts in pitch, rhythm, harmony and form. Previous musical knowledge is helpful but not required.
AP Music Theory
This is a college-level, first year music theory course. It incorporates the study of melody, harmony, texture, rhythm, form, musical analysis, elementary composition, and to some extent, history and style. Musicianship skills such as dictation and other listening skills, sight-singing, and keyboard harmony are also developed within the scope of the curriculum. The student’s ability to read and write musical notation is fundamental to this course. It is also assumed that the student has acquired at least basic performance skills in voice or on an instrument.