LYNNE COX CREDENTIALS:
Lynne Craige Cox is a native of Marion, S.C. and attended Winthrop College 1962-1964 majoring in music. Married Jerry D. Cox, Jr., of Belhaven, N. C. in 1964 and completed her Piano Performance Degree in Music Education at East Carolina University in 1966. It was at this same institution that she added a Certification in Public School Music. Lynne immediately began teaching piano classes as well as creating programs for different schools in the area.
Her music teaching has spanned almost 40 years at present and her teaching is much more than just a job to her—it is her passion to introduce music to children and carefully tend the ‘learning soil’ she creates to help each and every child she teaches develop their unique musical skills.
After teaching private piano classes in the area for over 20 years Lynne entered public school music in 1991 at Eastern Elementary School in Washington, N. C. Here she is employed at the same school and directs many musicals—one commemorating 9/11 and had to be presented outside on a flat-bed trailer in order to accommodate approximately 1,000 people.
She had another dream come true as she presented 55 of her first graders in a musical spectacular dancing and singing the “Sea Zoo” songs in costume to a packed house. Each year Lynne prepares an elementary ‘show choir’ for the annual “Steppin’ Out” showcasing the talent in the Beaufort (NC) County School system.
The most recent honor bestowed upon her was being selected as one of the state finalists in 2003 for the prestigious Sarah Belk Gambrell award for excellence in music education sponsored by the Arts Education Coalition/ NC Alliance for Arts Education. Lynne was nominated by Beaufort County Schools for this award for her contribution to the field of arts education.
Presently Lynne is an Advanced Candidate for National Board Certification in Early Childhood Music. Her specialty area is from ages 3-8.
CAREER HISTORY:
HONORS:
PUBLICATIONS:
· CD “Favorite Piano Classics” (see button of that name) all easy listening, original compositions performed on an acoustical piano by Lynne on a concert grand piano. This one is currently in its second printing.
· CD “The American Eagle” which contains her patriotic ballad as well as complete songs from her “Sea Zoo”, “Noah’s Ark” and “Singing Rainbow” Collections
· “Sea Zoo” coloring book with lyrics to songs
· “Singing Rainbow” coloring/music book complete with actual printed piano scores plus lyrics for beginners
· “Dinosaur Collection” four late elementary piano solos containing character pieces created to depict the different dinosaurs. “Pteranodon” was the melody Lynne wrote for this collection 20 years ago that she used for her “American Eagle” song—the words to her poem commemorating 9/11 fitting like a glove to this haunting melody. Pieces from this collection have been on numerous NC and other state contest lists for children
· “Cruising Down the Nile”, a virtual reality project created and implemented in collaboration with Dr. Veronica Pantelidis of the School of Education, East Carolina University. Published in VREL’s (Virtual Reality Education Laboratory) papers. At present being used worldwide in university students’dissertations in obtaining masters degrees in computer science.
· “Musical Spaceship”, another reality project published by VREL and used by VREX Corporation of Elmsford, NY specializing in virtual reality products for their advertising ‘user page’
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS:
· National Federation of Music Clubs—life membership
· Music Educator’s National Conference
· Beaufort County Arts Council
· Effie-Raye Arts Society—Belhaven Arts Council
· Marion (SC) County Arts Council
INTERESTS:
Being with my family and friends, composing, sharing my music with others, teaching and being a part of developing children’s musicianship and self-confidence; as a breast cancer survivor of 8 years helping other women through this crisis, church and community work, walking, gardening and traveling.
PERSONAL INFORMATION:
Married to Jerry Cox since 1964
Children: sons Trevor and Sean
Grandson: Kirian
MORE INFO ABOUT SEA ZOO:
“Sea Zoo” company (Lynne Cox Publications) is the musical brainchild of Lynne Cox, music educator of almost 40 years. This is a company specializing in music and visual arts for children, although her recent CDs will appeal to all ages.
Lynne resides in Belhaven, NC, with her husband Jerry on the Intracoastal Waterway. Living beside the water fed her imagination of the creatures of the sea in teaching her two sons, Trevor and Sean, about the ocean animals. It started with poems set in riddle form that she would say to the younger son, Sean, who was two at the time, while the older son, Trevor, would cavort in the water acting out whatever sea animal it was. This was in the early 1980’s.
This was great fun!! Soon afterward Lynne composed melodies to go along with the poems, scored them for the elementary piano student and, voila, “Sea Zoo” was born containing 10 original songs. “The Octopus”, “The Shark”, “The Lobster”, and the other seven animals are written as if the sea creature was singing directly to the child, giving hints as to what it is (Don’t wade out! Best go in! When you see my dorsal fin”). As the child is delighted with the song, he has no idea that Mama has purposely written these in riddle form, which is a pre-requisite in elementary language arts curriculum; teaches the child math skills ( Ex. “The Octopus”--One, two, three, four, don’t stop now! There are more! Five, six, seven, eight, having eight is just great!); and zoology on primary and elementary level.
They were published by Myklas Music Press of Denver, CO. “The Shark” and “The Lobster” immediately were chosen by the National Federation of Music Clubs for their required performing list for children. Many of these songs have stayed on this list for years.
Lynne’s “Dinosaur Piano Collection” (see Dinosaur Collection”) and her “Sea Zoo” songs have won many state cups and have been listed on many required performance lists of many music teaching organizations.
It was Lynne’s dream to also combine a matching coloring book with the songs. With Kim Dills and Catherine Broadhead hired as the visual arts creators, the book was completed with the cartoony picture of the sea animal on the right hand side of the book and the lyrics on the left. Having observed closely with the students Lynne has taught, she realized that not only was it fun to color and sing at the same time, as she had enjoyed doing as a little girl, but that in incorporating visual and performing arts facilitated and reinforced learning.
Since her new CD, “The American Eagle” is also a sampler of her children’s songs, three of the “Sea Zoo” songs are on this CD. This CD contains “The American Eagle” (a patriotic song commemorating 9/11 and is composed and published in honor of the military, fireman, rescue workers and just patriotic citizens who love this country. (See “American Eagle” on this website.
Lynne has also expanded her composition skills to include “Noah’s Ark”, this time about the animals that ‘crawl or walk on the earth or fly in the sky’. Seven songs in this series have been completed and three are on “The American Eagle” CD. “The Singing Rainbow”, a collection of elementary songs complete with coloring book which includes actual elementary piano scores as well as lyrics, has “Purple” on this same CD.
“Sea Zoo” provides fun, innovative, interactive fun for children and adults. Combining visual and performing arts into an educational experience for the young child, it is Lynne’s sincere hope that it provides quality time between parents/grandparents and children, just as it did for her and her young sons.
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