Chatham County String Program

Miriam Bryant has been teaching and leading others in musical activities for over 30 years.  She earned a Master’s of Arts in teaching from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 and held  K-12 Music Educator certification 2005-2018.  Mrs. Bryant taught in the public-school sector for 8 years as a music educator at the high school level in strings, chorus, music theory, and music appreciation classes.  Additionally, she taught elementary music in typical and atypical blended pre-K classes and in special needs class settings of varying abilities. Mrs. Bryant also taught fiddle with the Chatham County Junior Appalachian Music organization for several years and lead various children and adult choirs at her church Currently, Mrs. Bryant teaches private lessons in violin, piano and voice in Lee and Chatham County. In addition, Miriam is a violin instructor at the elementary school level for the Chatham County Schools strings program.    She is a continuing in her seventeenth year as a member and violin section leader of the Lee County Community Orchestra and performs regularly at churches and community events.  Professional organizations include membership in the Music Educators National Conference and the American String Teacher’s Association.  

“Ms. Miriam” bases her teaching methods on the pedagogy of Suzuki, Bornoff, Kodaly, and student led processes to develop technique, intonation, and tone.   In addition to teaching and playing music, Ms. Miriam enjoys cooking, knitting, birding, hiking and being a Mimi to her grandsons.

Deborah’s love of music began at a very young age. At 18 months she regularly

requested to hear the music of Antonio Vivaldi so it was only natural that at age 5

she began violin lessons. As she grew, she also added piano, viola, clarinet, and

some voice to her musical toolbox performing in orchestras, bands, and choirs.

She earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from West Texas A&M

University and a Master of Music Education degree from the University of North

Texas. As an adult she has performed in many church and community events as a

soloist and as a member of various-sized ensembles.

Deborah began her career as a public school orchestra director in her native

Texas. She primarily taught in middle schools where her orchestras consistently

earned top ratings at concert and sight-reading festivals, including being named as

a top-ten Texas middle school orchestra for three years. When her husband, Kerry

responded to God’s call to ministry and their family moved to Ohio, Deborah

shifted her focus to teaching private strings lessons. As a private teacher, Deborah

taught the love of string playing to many students aged 4 through 70. She

prepared these students for studio recitals, solo & ensemble festivals, and other

performance and competition opportunities.

In early 2023, a surprise opportunity brought Deborah and Kerry to beautiful

North Carolina where they now reside in the heart of Chatham County. Deborah

is thrilled to be sharing the love of playing a stringed instrument with another

generation as she teaches violin students at Virginia Cross Elementary through the

Chatham County String Program sponsored by Triangle Youth Music.

Deborah and Kerry have three grown children, two sons-in-law, and two beautiful

granddaughters who reside in Florida and Ohio. In her free time, Deborah enjoys

various needle arts, cooking, sharing music with others, deepening her relationship

with Jesus Christ, and, especially, spending time with her husband!