Chattanoogan: Recently Retired Bright Music Teacher Ann Moore Reflects On Career

Ann Moore has spent much of her life as a choir singer and music teacher striving to create the perfect harmony.
 
In her 28 years teaching at Bright School, she has admittedly found plenty of harmony in her work experience, too.
 
“This has been a great place to work,” she said during a recent interview. “There is not any (elementary) school in any area of East Tennessee that has all the musical instruments we do.”
 
As has been announced, Ms. Moore recently retired from the school along with Susan Perkins, a kindergarten teacher who had been at Bright 22 years, and Jim Blair, a physical education instructor for 15 years.
 
Ms.

Moore, who is being replaced by Stephanie Bowling, a local piano teacher and the music director at Red Bank United Methodist Church, admitted that she will miss much about Bright School. And it will be the smiles coming from her students as much as the musical sounds.
 
“The neat thing about teaching elementary school is the enthusiasm of the children, and the way they give you hugs,” she said.
 
Ms. Moore came to Bright in 1987 through somewhat of an unusual route. She had been working at the Highland Plaza United Methodist Church preschool and was helping the children present a musical program. One of her students was Whit Walker, whose father, then-Bright headmaster Kirk Walker, was in attendance. By chance, Dr. Walker was also looking for a new music teacher after current Signal Mountain School choral director Jan Johnson was leaving to adopt a child.
 
“He asked me to apply,” she recalled. Dr. Walker was known for keeping an eye out for potential teachers, as he first learned about former Bright shop teacher John Allen by watching him do a blacksmithing demonstration at a festival.
 
By that time, she already had an established music career. Raised in Chattanooga, she attended Tyner High School and then Middle Tennessee State University before graduating in 1970. She then taught at Hixson Junior High for eight years, working with an 80-member choir.
 
She then began raising a family and also started serving as the part-time choral teacher at Baylor School.
 
At the time Mrs. Moore came to Bright, the school had hired several music teachers over a period of about 15 years following the death of longtime music teacher and accomplished pianist Mrs. Oscar Miller.
 
The facilities were also changing during that time. The former music room that dated back to the current school’s construction in 1963 and was entered from a side door by the steps to the theater/auditorium was also removed then to make way for the administrative offices.
 
As a result, Ms. Moore had to deal with moving to a new classroom. But one old tradition she took with her to the new room was the song, “Country Gardens,” performed for years by Bright students.
 
“That is one thing they told me when I was hired by Kirk Walker was to keep the tradition of ‘Country Gardens’ going,’ “ she said with a laugh.
 
She has also added a few offerings that in the process have become Bright traditions, too. Among them are the multiple handbell choirs she developed.
 
“I wanted to encourage the kids to see what it’s like to be a part of an ensemble,” she said.
 
She has also taught the youngsters to sing, and to play or experience such instruments as the soprano recorder, the alto recorder, the Orff xylophone, a trap drum set and the autoharp. The latter instrument, Ms. Moore joked, is fun to play, but not so fun for her to tune.
 
The longtime teacher also tried to expose students to different kinds of music, teach them to read rhythmic patterns, and do collaborative projects. As an example of the latter, she had them working with Spanish teacher Laura Goetz on Spanish songs.
 
She, in turn, was also aided through collaboration. She said she received moral support from parents and the larger school community, as well as donated instruments and classroom materials like Panaboard software for teaching. The latter helped her stay as enthusiastic as her young students, she admitted.
 
“It has new ways to teach, and they (school leaders) encourage us to find new ways to teach, and it kept me from getting burned out,” she said.
 
Ms. Moore admittedly tried to be enthusiastic in her teaching, and said she learned that trait from one of her mentors, Glenn Draper. She sang under him as a longtime choir member at First Presbyterian Church and with his Glenn Draper Singers. As part of the latter group, she had opportunities to sing at the White House under him. 
 
“He knew how to get it out of singers,” she said of his enthusiasm. “And a lot of his techniques have worked with elementary singers.”
 
Ms. Moore’s room – which sat on the east end of the covered concourse and was one of the original sixth-grade rooms – also emanated enthusiasm, and from sights as much as sounds during a visit on one of her last days. It was creatively decorated with a music-themed carpet that could be used for instruction. It also had hanging on the walls such attractive instruments as one refinished by her father-in-law, C.F. Moore, and a dulcimer made by the late former Bright shop teacher Aaron Lowe.
 
“I put them up there because I wanted kids to see the long history of music at Bright,” she said.
 
And Ms. Moore’s long time at the school has now come to a close. Besides spending more time with her family, she also hopes to be involved with some of First Presbyterian Church’s outreach ministries, including working with inner-city schools.
 
She also hopes to take plenty of time to remember what she calls a great 28 years at Bright School, as well as the joy of being involved in music.
 
“I have enjoyed hearing children sing,” she said. “Music has influenced my life so much.” 

To listen to Ms. Moore discuss what she enjoyed about teaching at Bright School, click here.

To hear what Ms. Moore will miss about teaching at Bright, listen click here.

Jchsearer2@comcast.net