Community Music Center is where SF youth hone their musical talents — for free
The celebrated organization teaches people of all ages and skill levels their instrument of choice. The only requirement is passion.
By Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig
There is a lot of truth to the proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” — especially when it comes to helping that child find and cultivate their talents and interests. One such “village” is a collective of teachers, mentors and musicians who have been doing just that for more than 100 years at the Community Music Center.
With a pair of locations in Mission and Richmond districts, The Center has been a place where children can play and perform to their hearts’ content regardless their expertise or casual interest. And the best part of it is they can do so free of charge.
One of those students who joined the Center’s Teen Jazz Orchestra in 2017 is Ryan Ancheta, who wanted to tap into his love for trumpet playing. He told me his journey began during a trip to Disneyland when he was around 5 and he became mesmerized by a live show of “The Little Mermaid,” where a trumpet player performed the part of Sebastian the Crab. “I thought that was the coolest thing ever,” said Ancheta, 17. He continued to play a “mouth trumpet” for a few years until he began playing classical trumpet, while attending the San Francisco Friends School.
During this time, Ryan’s mom Becky enrolled her son in a summer camp at CMC and soon learned about its year-round jazz program. Seeing the class was run by famed bassist and composer Marcus Shelby — who had been a guest artist at an SF Girls Chorus performance that daughter Sarah was in — had Ryan enroll. The rest, as they say, is history.
The center is the brainchild of Gertrude Field, who in 1912 opened the Community Music School.
“We are not primarily concerned about the evolution of concert artists, though we give special attention to and encourage those who show exceptional talent,” Field said. “Our aim is to create a musical atmosphere in the home by giving children the means of expression. Hence, ‘how beautiful,’ rather than how well-played or sung, is the comment one hears oftenest in our classes.”
CMC welcomes students of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, regardless of financial means. Its no-cost and low-cost tuition is reported to be the largest of its kind in the country, spokeswoman Anne C. Mitchell said. The school awarded $2.9 million in tuition assistance last year and serves more than 3,300 students who take classes in a diverse range of musical styles, including Latin, pop, folk, rock, western classical, blues and jazz, where Ryan has found his happy place.
Ryan says his life was forever changed when he began taking classes to be a part of the orchestra, and then again when in 2021 he was invited to be in the Jazz Ensemble, part of CMC’s Young Musicians Program.
And the proverbial village continues to guide Ryan on his musical journey. Shelby wrote him a letter of reference to attend Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, where he will graduate from in May. The young musician has been given the opportunity to play local gigs professionally under the Center’s tutelage. Additionally, in early 2022, he was inspired to create the band Aerodynamic with friends and other CMC participants Zev Vestel (drums), Sedge Green (Bass), Sora Hoshino (Guitar) and Dominic Labuguen (piano).
He’s not sure where his post-graduation journey will lead him, but says he will stay playing and performing music and hasn’t ruled out majoring in or teaching it himself one day. And, he added, CMC will always — in some way — be a part of his life.
“It’s in the name: Community,” Ryan said. “CMC is very much that.”
Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig is an award-winning journalist who is the owner of MFC3 Media and publisher/founder of shades Magazine — Celebrating All Women of Color (shadesmagazine.com).
She’s president of the Exceptional Women in Publishing’s board of directors and a former three-term board member for the National Association of Black Journalists. Fitzhugh-Craig is the mother of four grown children and five grandchildren. She lives in Oakland.
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