Day School

Pacific Boychoir Academy day school students enjoy a truly differentiated learning experience. With a student-teacher ratio of 1:3, and classes capped at 12 students per grade, boys grades 3-8 receive individual attention from teachers, allowing them to reach their full academic potential.

Our rigorous academic curriculum features History, Science, Mathematics, Literature, Art, Latin, Spanish, Theater & PE, incorporating learning opportunities that empower boys to demonstrate their learning well beyond the pencil and paper model. We teach boys how to channel their energy into a force for excellence with hands-on projects, group work, creative activities and theatrical displays to provide a stimulating, active learning environment, appropriate to the strengths and needs of boys.

Many programs claim to prepare boys for the real world. We take them there! Music is the vehicle which allows our choristers to be ambassadors and prepares them to be global citizens.

If you think your son needs to have a musical background to attend PBA, think again – our teachers are recognized leaders in vocal pedagogy and childhood education and will teach your son everything he needs to know.

Our Philosophy

We believe that boys are capable of much more than is assumed possible for their age. They are eager for real-world accomplishment and opportunities to grow. We inspire them by providing challenging but achievable goals.

Their response to our approach is life-changing. Their middle school years turn into a period of high purpose. They pursue academics seriously. They mature personally. We develop confident, engaged young men who are capable of achieving extraordinary outcomes.

Boys reach significant milestones together.

Unparalleled opportunities that develop as they do:

Performance Collaborations with professional powerhouses
Domestic and International Tours – travel experiences that inform not only their view of the world but that of themselves as competent, confident, global citizens.
Performance opportunities on the world stage- at professional sporting events, community & government events
Studio and Commercial recording opportunities
Retreats and Camps

Interested families should email head of school Bethany Edstrom at, Admissions@PacificBoychoir or call 510-652-4722, x6.

Learn how to apply

A Reputation for Excellence

Pacific Boychoir Academy has developed a reputation for excellence in performance and education. PBA does not aim to prepare boys to be professional musicians, though their training will set them well on their way should they choose that path. Rather, PBA’s success with singing helps teach the same qualities one looks for in an academic setting:

realization of each boy’s potential
cultivation of responsibility
what it means to be part of a team
developing the mind and body
the value of commitment

These are the things that a boy learns as part of a professional choir. The integration of musical and academic achievement gives each boy a complete education he cannot get anywhere else.

Diversity

PBA boys value diversity and difference. We are not affiliated with any church, ethnic group, or specific geographic area. We seek out boys of all ethnic, economic, and geographic backgrounds. PBA is a diverse place with students from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. Boys learn from each other and prepare for lives in an increasingly diverse and global society.

Faculty

Faculty members offer boys the encouragement, creativity, inspiration, and one-on-one attention they need. In addition to a best-for-boys learning approach, students at PBA receive guidance and mentoring at a crucial point in their education.

Learn more about our faculty

What is a choir school?

Some schools have a choir, but a choir school is a school where all the students sing as part of the choir. Institutions for boy choristers date at least back to the fourth century AD. In Europe, boys have been trained as singers for centuries, and their musical studies coordinated with their academic studies.

Pacific Boychoir Academy is modeled after the successful choir schools that exist around the world today, such as the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir School in South Africa, and the Vienna Boys’ Choir School. Choir schools are very common in Europe, and there are choir schools around the world. While most of these are boarding schools, PBA, however, is not a boarding school, because talented singers live right here in the Bay Area.

Because boys’ voices last only until they are 13 or 14, a more intense musical program allows them to do as much as possible with their voices before they change. The finest boys’ choirs in the world are those where the boys attend the same school because the unified scheduling allows them to rehearse every day, just as one should practice anything every day to truly excel. When boys in the school go through voice change, they will be taught to sing tenor and bass with the other boys, and with the high school choristers.

The best of all worlds

Global Citizenship

Pacific Boychoir gets invitations to sing around the world at different times. With an academic program integrated into the choir program, boys are able to do such things as tour during the school year. With teachers on tour, imagine your son learning about the Civil War while traveling through the South, singing in concerts and meeting people from different states. Imagine your son learning about ancient Rome while on tour in Italy. No other school in California can offer this kind of first-hand educational experience.

Sports

Because the boys rehearse during school hours, their musical studies will not interfere with their outside sports teams. We also have a basketball team – the PBA Panthers – and regular Physical Education classes, which include swimming in the fall and late spring.

Performances

The academic and music programs work together so that boys don’t miss out on classes or concerts because of scheduling. When we have a nighttime concert, we have a late start at school the next day. The health and well-being of the boys is central to our scheduling, and balance is key.