Kathleen Cobucci lives many lives.
During the week, she’s “Miss Katie,” a music teacher at Falls Church Episcopal Day School and Falls Church Community Center who teaches “Music Together” classes to young children. On the weekends, though, she takes on identities like “Fairy Kate” or “Captain Katie” when she performs at children’s parties and events under her party entertainment business, Little Circle Songs and Moves.
At home, she is a mother to three children. Cobucci lives in Falls Church, Virginia, with her husband and children, Rose (14) and Isabella (11). Her oldest, Joseph (19), is a freshman at Virginia Tech.
How did you get started as a music teacher?
This is actually my second career. I was both an ICU and a labor and delivery nurse for over 20 years, but after my second child was born, doing clinical nursing was a little bit hard.
When my third child was born a few years later, I was starting to get a little antsy. I’m a person that likes challenges, and I had gone to music classes with all of my kids called Music Together that are very family-based and mixed-age. Our teacher, who had taught for over 20 years, was retiring, and I just burst into tears in the classroom. Afterwards, she said to me, “You know, you should be a teacher for this class.” And I let it stir a little.
At the same time, I would help out in my kids’ school and preschool. Several times, I would put on Irish music events for St. Patrick’s Day. Twice, I had teachers say to me, “You really should consider doing this for an occupation; you’re very good at it.” So, I ended up becoming a Music Together teacher in 2017 and started teaching in the Falls Church Community Center. And then, that led to me becoming the music teacher at what used to be my children’s preschool, the Falls Church Episcopal Day School.
So what led you to get into party entertainment?
I had families who I knew who would say, “Hey, do you do birthday parties?” And the first couple times, I said, “No, I don’t.” Eventually, I agreed to do it and started learning how to do it for people I knew. So, I finally started my own business, which was a whole new world for me to build my own website and kind of put myself out there.
You teach and entertain children at both your jobs, but how are they different?
My teaching style probably is very influenced by Music Together, which is all about building community with everyone present to harken back to the days where communities got together and sang and danced, and I take that into the preschool. We use a lot of movement because I’ve danced my whole life. So, I bring a lot of movement into what I do.
At a party, though, you don’t really know what you’re walking into, because it is someone else’s house, someone else’s family and friends. So, you do have to be very flexible. I happen to adore children. I think preschoolers are some of the funniest people around. They just have a natural joy about them and their imagination. They’re willing to accept and participate in a way that I think gets clipped a little as we grow up and start to worry about what others are thinking about us. I hope in both my events and my classes, it’s not about being skilled or talented; it’s about everyone having fun and expressing themselves through music and dance.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from your work?
To enjoy the now. I think, as parents, we frequently look forward to when they get older and things will be easier. But when your kids get older, you look back and you think, “I’m so glad we spent the time to do this or this when they were young, because the days are long, but the years fly by.” It’s a very overused adage, but it’s very true. So, I guess to be present, even though it’s very hard sometimes, especially when your children are young. It’s just to enjoy the child that you have at that moment.
Family Favorites
Favorite Food: Pizza at Pie-Tanza in Arlington, [Virginia]
Local Spot: Great Falls, for hiking
Vacation Spot: New England, because we love sightseeing
Movie: “The Sound of Music”
Game: Charades, especially when our extended family is over
