Jim Shepard

Choral Instructor

Jim Shepard has 18 years of experience teaching choir at Carlsbad High School and 15 years at MiraCosta working with choral groups and teaching music classes. What keeps him going? “Every endeavor is a new creative effort because you’re doing different music every time,” says Jim. “You get to create concerts and programs, and that’s fun . . . finding pieces you like and finding a theme that ties them together.”

All levels of singers converge in the college’s choral groups, from “shower singers” to experienced singers, says Jim, and the results are consistently fabulous--as anyone would attest who has heard a performance by the North Coast Chorale or the Chamber Chorale. Their voices are not only heard in campus and community concerts but internationally; Jim has taken his groups on tour to the Baltic states and Russia, Spain and Portugal, China, and Hawaii.

The ongoing challenge is the turnover in singers--taking a group of new and enthusiastic people and turning them into an ensemble. Jim, who holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Southern California and an M.A. from SDSU, is looking forward to teaching in the new creative arts complex that will soon be built at the Oceanside Campus, which, among other features, will house an excellent rehearsal space and integrated studios.

"Choral music is a team effort. You work with other people who get satisfaction from working with that creative effort,” says Jim. “The sum is greater than the parts.”