With the City of San Francisco’s direction to shelter-in-place, Community Music Center is not holding on-site lessons and classes at its Mission District and Richmond District Branches from March 14–April 7. All CMC concerts and events during this period have also been cancelled.
We will miss our cherished community during this time, but the music will go on! We are offering lessons and classes through remote forms of instruction during the closure so that learning and teaching go uninterrupted. Expect communications from our staff and faculty regarding your lessons and classes.
While this is an incredibly challenging time for artists, organizations, and people all around the globe, we find great comfort in the role that music plays in connecting and consoling our communities in times of duress. We hope you’ll stay connected with CMC, and continue sharing in the special power of music— we need it now more than ever!
What’s it like to take a remote lesson or class?
CMC faculty are employing the latest technology and using creative approaches to provide high-quality music education and staying connected to their students, during a time when CMC’s sites are closed. For private lessons, teachers are using Zoom, Facetime, Skype, and Google Meet, which are video conferencing platforms for one-on-one, realtime lessons. For group classes, faculty are using video uploaded to Youtube, audio recordings, and video conferencing platforms to supplement classes. Our dedicated faculty are developing engaging new ways for our students to learn and practice, so high quality teaching can continue even when we can’t be together in person.
The CMC Operations Team is available to help students install and use remote learning platforms and trouble-shoot problems. Just contact us at questions@sfcmc.org.
Take a look at some of these examples to see how an online lesson or class might look:
Phoenix Curtis takes a Zoom violin lesson with Heidi Kim, strings faculty member.
Daniel Fabricant, Musical Storytime faculty member, created a video class for this week’s classes.
Omar Ledezma Jr., percussion faculty member, recorded a demo Latin percussion lesson on Zoom to demonstrate the experience.
Older Adult Choir members are loving having rehearsal videos online to sing with! Maestro and Nola Curtis made this video for the Western Addition Older Adult Choir, complete with warm ups, repertoire, and tips for staying healthy.
Won’t you join in the fun, and keep the music going? Enrollment for Spring Quarter is happening now.
Questions? We’re here to help! Want to share how your lessons are going to encourage other students? Just drop us a line at questions@sfcmc.org.