IRMO, S.C. — Warm up your vocal cords, and grab your sheet music, because we’re heading to Mr. Christopher Moore’s choir class at Irmo Middle School.
Mr. Moore always made waves with music, but it wasn’t until an educator pushed him to study it that he started singing in the high Cs.
“In the 11th grade in high school, I was outside singing with some friends, and the choir teacher walked by, and he was like, 'You should audition for the gifted and talented course,'” Moore said. “My ROTC instructor said, 'I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but I think you should go to school for singing.' And he was the only one that really told me that I had something, and so I wanted to go with it.”
Born in Edgefield, South Carolina, Moore started his undergraduate career at Coker University but turned to opera at USC and got a degree in Voice Performance. But that’s not all. He picked up a Master’s in Music Education.
Moore has been teaching for three years. The first year was at Lamar-Spaulding Elementary School and, for the last two years, he has taught at Irmo Middle.
“We're always the first class to him and we always bring him joy," Irmo Middle School student Jamari said. "We make him laugh every now and then. And we try our best.”
“He’s such a great teacher. And whenever we're our lowest, he brings us up. Whenever we're doing something wrong. He doesn't yell at you for doing something wrong. He jokingly tells you what you need to do to fix it and then whenever it's fixed, he gives us joy and pride and praises us for how we did,” student Harmony said.
Outside the classroom, you can find Mr. Moore singing at Trinity Episcopal Church and Shandon Presbyterian Church or at Villa Tronco in downtown Columbia. He's also a master baker and cheerleading coach.
“A lot of things that I remember from my childhood come from the teachers that held me close to them," Moore said. "And that told me that I mattered and told me that I meant something to them, and so, one of my instructors was that person that was like, you can go places, I can see it in you.”
I think it goes without saying that life without choir would 'B flat.'
"When you get into the real world, you're always going to be with a person that you're not used to working with, doing something you didn't think that you were going to do. And that's literally what this class is. It's a whole bunch of people from many different backgrounds coming in to do one thing, and that's to make beautiful music," Moore said.
If you know a teacher like Mr. Moore who deserves to be recognized for their hard work in the classroom you can nominate them by emailing us at tow@WLTX.COM. Tell us what that educator is doing every day to go above and beyond in the classroom.