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Music Education for Children and Youth

The Community Music School (CMS) provides accessible music education to children and youth in the GTA. Founded in 1980 and operating out of Humber’s Lakeshore Campus, the School offers weekly private lessons and small-group classes to children and youth of all musical experience levels.  

Over the past 40-plus years, CMS has established an international reputation as a leader in jazz and children’s music education, helping thousands of students develop their talent and pursue their aspirations in music.  

CMS fosters a supportive and inclusive community by prioritizing the joy of making music and creating opportunities for students to celebrate their collective musical growth through performance. Our world-class coaches are committed to working with students step-by-step to help them reach the next level in their musical development and build the confidence they need to achieve their individual performance goals. 

Course Offerings

woman teaching young girl how to play the trumpetPrivate Lessons
Private Lessons

Study music in a one-on-one setting.

group of young kids sitting on the floor with instrumentsChildren's Musicianship
Children's Musicianship

Introduce young children to music. Ages 3-8.

group of students playing the bongos with adult guidenceOrff Ensembles
Orff Ensembles

Develop and refine musicianship with Orff-based curriculum. Ages 9-11.

young boy playing the trumpetJazz Ensembles
Jazz Ensembles

Explore and develop small-group ensemble skills. Ages 12-18.

teenagers playing together in a jazz bandAdvanced Jazz
Advanced Jazz

Advanced improvisation, jazz vocabulary and ensemble playing.

Meet the Music Coaches

Johnny Griffith
Johnny Griffith is a multi-Juno Award-nominated saxophonist, composer and producer who has played and recorded with numerous artists including Don Thompson, Hawksley Workman, Jeremy Pelt, Charlie Hunter, The Wailers, Fishbone, Ernesto Cervini’s Tune Town, Alex Dean, Laila Biali, Al Henderson Quintet, Brandi Disterheft and Terra Hazelton, to name a few, and is a member of the popular Canadian funk/hip hop group the Pocket Dwellers. He has toured extensively across Canada, the United States, and Europe performing at all the major Canadian music festivals as well as several international venues, including the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.   Johnny co-leads the Griffith Hiltz Trio (GHT) with guitarist Nathan Hiltz, arriving on the scene with the 2009 album Now & Then, produced by and featuring Canadian jazz legend Don Thompson. Their debut album was selected by Terry McElligott at Jazz FM 91 as Jazz Album of the Year and was nominated for a Grand Prix du Jazz from the Montreal Jazz festival. Their second, more experimental release, This is What You Get, was produced by Canadian cult icon Hawksley Workman and sat at #1 on the national jazz charts for three weeks in 2013. Amid the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, GHT released its third album, Arcade, a nostalgic chiptune-jazz fusion nod to the music of film and video games of the 1980s.   The Johnny Griffith Quintet is the artist’s first solo venture and launched with Dance with the Lady in 2015. Featuring NYC’s Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, the album was the featured release on WBGO Jazz radio New Jersey. 2018 saw the release of The Lion, Camel and Child, again with Pelt, previewing at the TD Toronto Jazz Festival 2018.    In 2015, Johnny created the non-profit independent jazz label G-B Records and has gone on to produce and/or engineer Nathan Hiltz’s Songs Poetic and Samways, Whitney Ross-Barris' The Bright Lunch Trio, Graeme Stephen’s Projector Trio, Adrean Farrugia/Joel Frahm’s Blued Dharma, Chris Wallace’s Many Names, Andy Ballantyne’s Play on Words and UK’s NeWt Trio’s “Drip.” Johnny is also an active film and television composer. He has composed the scores for the films Still to Go and The Recipe, both films appearing in the Toronto International Film Festival, the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival and the Vancouver International Film Festival. He is also a freelance composer for the Bell/CTV media group. Born in St. Boniface, Manitoba, Johnny has a Bachelor of Music from Humber College, a master’s degree in jazz performance from University of Toronto, and for the past 12 years, he has been a Humber Music faculty member.  Johnny Griffith currently lives and performs in Toronto, Canada.
David French
David French has played with several artists including Louis Simão, Dan Fortin, Michael Davidson, Fabio Ragnelli, Harley Card, Allison Au, Aline Homzy, Morgan Childs, Jon Maharaj, Devon Henderson, Joshua Van Tassel, Alex Samaras, Trevor Giancola, Amanda Tosoff, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Reg Schwager, Perry White, Phil Dwyer, Kevin Turcotte, Neil Swainson, Jim Vivian, Don Thompson, Dave Young, the Queer Songbook Orchestra, The Sea And Cake, STARS, the Sam Roberts Band, Broken Social Scene and La Force, to name a few.  Media appearances include the Juno Awards, JazzFM.91, First Play Live, Q, Drive, Big City-Small World, Global Village, The Strombo Show, CTV Breakfast Television, Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW (NPR), Live On KEXP, MTV, MuchMusic, CBS This Morning, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and La Blogothéque. French has taught woodwinds and jazz ensembles at the Humber College Community Music program since 2002 and has taught woodwinds, wind ensembles, and Community Band at the Regent Park School of Music since 2011.
Jacob Damelin
Jacob is a pianist and music teacher based in Toronto, Ontario. Since graduating from Berklee College of Music in 2013, he has established himself as a performer and educator in several genres, including jazz, rock, soul, and pop. He released an album of his original music entitled Old Soul in 2015, and has collaborated with local artists such as Pat Labarbera, Lady Be Good, and The Kount.
Lorne Lofsky
A master guitarist known for pianistic voicings and virtuosic skill, Lorne Lofsky is considered one of Canada's great musical treasures. Over the course of a 40-plus year career, Lofsky has played, toured and recorded with some of the most prominent names in jazz including Oscar Peterson, Chet Baker, Ed Bickert, Pat LaBarbera, Ray Brown, Joey DeFrancesco, and many others. Born, raised and based in Toronto, Canada, Lorne’s career began when Oscar Peterson offered to produce his first record, It Could Happen To You (Pablo Records), in 1980. During the years that followed, he worked extensively in the Toronto area, and toured with the likes of Pat LaBarbera and fellow guitarist Ed Bickert. Lorne’s fruitful collaboration with Bickert ran from 1983 through 1991 and produced two widely acclaimed recordings including the well-known 1990 Concord release This Is New. In the mid-1990s, he gained further recognition as a member of the Oscar Peterson Quartet. From 1994-1996, Lorne toured with Peterson's group at venues all over the world, from Carnegie Hall to the Montreal Jazz Festival, and appeared on three recordings. Lorne was Chet Baker's go-to Canadian guitarist and is heavily featured on the legendary jazz trumpeter's 2000 release, Live at the Renaissance II. His other notable collaborations include performances with Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, Benny Carter, Joey DeFrancesco, Dave Holland, Rosemary Clooney, and Clark Terry among others. While Lorne has built a widely respected reputation as a world-class player, he has also become known as a prominent and sought-after educator. Lorne currently teaches at York University and Humber College in Toronto, has an extensive private teaching practice, and has guest lectured at a plethora of top-notch institutions such as St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and McGill University in Montreal, among many others.
Matt Newton
Matt Newton is a Toronto-based pianist, composer and educator, and has been teaching at Humber's Community Music School since 2013. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto jazz program and has attended the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music where he studied with world renowned trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas and pianist Deron Johnson (Miles Davis). He is a member of the Harley Card Quintet and has performed with such respected artists as Melissa Lauren, Petr Cancura, Chris Gale, Rebecca Hennessy, Karl Silveira, Allison Au, Tim Shia, and Beverly Taft among many others.

Summer Program Information

  • The 2024 summer term will run June 29 to July 27
  • The last date to register for the summer term is Friday, June 28

Fall Program Information

  • The 2024 fall term will run September 14 to December 14
  • The last date to register for the fall term is Wednesday, September 11
  • Fall courses and fees coming soon

All classes will be conducted at Humber College Lakeshore Campus on Saturday, between 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Please contact communitymusic@humber.ca before registering for classes and/or for more information.

Summer 2024 Term

CATEGORY COURSE FEE
Private Lesson (All Instruments) 30min Private Lesson $200
60min Private Lesson $400

Testimonials

"Love Community Music!  I’m happy to have learnt a new skill set that I can now share with others."

"Great experience.  Excellent class and music coach!"

"I have been in the Community Jazz program for 5 years.  It’s always an enjoyable and educational program."

"The only thing better than singing is more singing.” - Ella Fitzgerald

"From an early age, my son had a love for music, particularly jazz. We learned about Humber while my son was listening to Jazz FM and through a visit to the long-standing jazz venue, The Rex. We investigated the Community Music program, had an audition, and my son was fortunate to be accepted into the program. Though we live outside of Toronto, the drive to Humber on Saturday is worth it.

Further, our son has a disability, but Humber and everyone who attends has created a warm and welcoming environment and, as such, contributed to his personal and musical development. We are grateful to have found Humber as it is a particularly welcoming and inclusive environment. It is truly a unique place, from the administration to the instructors and students." - Tim H. & Elsa Q.

How Music Education Helps

Studies show that music education improves children's cognitive and social development. Music helps improve attention span, language and literacy, memory, sound processing, spatial reasoning, and speech perception. It also builds confidence and self-esteem while teaching skills in communication, leadership, problem solving and teamwork.

How Music Education Helps

How Music Education Helps:

Improved Cognitive Development: Attention span, Language and literacy, Memory, Sound processing, Spatial reasoning, Speech perception.

Improved Social Development: Communication, Confidence, Leadership, Problem solving, Self-Esteem, Teamwork.

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“Music enhances the education of our children by helping them to make connections and broadening the depth with which they think and feel. If we are to hope for a society of culturally literate people, music must be a vital part of our children's education.”
- Yo-Yo Ma

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“Music education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around them – a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete education that includes music.” 
- Gerald Ford 

 

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“Adolescents with music training have better cognitive skills and school grades and are more conscientious, open and ambitious. These effects do not differ by socio-economic status… Music improves cognitive and non-cognitive skills {more than twice as much as sports, theatre or dance}." 
- 2013 German Social Economic Panel (study)