Deciding what instrument to learn, what kind of music to play, and finding the right teacher can be a lot to navigate when signing up for music lessons. This decision-making process at CMC is facilitated with the help of the registration team.
Gabi Díaz-Hernández has been a smiling face in the registration office since 2018. As an adult music student, multi-instrumentalist, and someone very familiar with the CMC faculty she is uniquely equipped to help students. As she says, “Since I’m an adult music student myself, it reassures older music students that it’s never late and our teachers love working with adults.” For people who are unclear about what instrument to study, the half-off group class discount is very helpful too. Gabi says, “One student I had last year was interested in a bunch of different instruments. Because we have the group class discount, I could set her up with a voice lesson teacher and then she got half off on the Latin Percussion class so she could learn percussion as well.” Sometimes students may be very sure what they want to study. In these cases, Gabi makes suggestions and uses the faculty bios on the CMC website, so potential students can read about the teachers and feel confident in the match. It’s also important to know that in making a match with a teacher, it’s not set in stone. As Gabi says, “When someone is uncertain they have made the right choice about a teacher, I tell them that we want them to be happy with their teacher because it’s a commitment for a quarter. But, if it’s not a good fit for them, students can let us know after the first lesson and we can change teachers for them. It’s reassuring for them to know that.”
Even as CMC offices are closed to in-person appointments with registrars, the registration team is a phone call away.