AMP is our immersive music education and enrichment program for students that provides comprehensive training to beginners and more advanced students alike in Classical, Jazz, Rock, and/or American Folk music on weekday afternoons during the traditional latch-key hours.

AMP begins each school day between 2:30 and 3:00, depending on location and local elementary school dismissal times.  Students can attend from 1-5 days per week.  They can be dropped off or ride a CMC Atlanta shuttle directly from nearby public and private schools. 

What Happens during AMP

We open the afternoon focused on transitioning students from school to after school music and play time.  After snacks and play, the afternoon for AMP students and faculty is filled with a variety of different musical activities, including:

• private lessons on the instrument of choice
• singing, drumming, and clubs like music tech club, glee club, rock band club, and more
• music theory, literacy and skills classes that emphasize learning through creation projects, play and immersion
• ensemble performance
• supervised individual and small group practice

AMP offers the ideal balance of focused personal training one-on-one with the fun of learning in a friendly community music school setting that adds social engagement and leans into learning to play or sing well through an expansive, holistic music educational experience. 

AMP is an specially appealing option for families who would like to enroll in a dynamic music education program but cannot imagine adding another item to the family schedule.  AMP wrap around services like the shuttle are designed to make music lessons convenient, but more importantly, parents of AMP students can trust their children are somewhere safe and engaged by a professional faculty in a beneficial and effective educational program.

Logistics

AMP students can attend anywhere from 1 to 5 days per week. Drop off or shuttle service that brings young musicians straight from school to one of our facilities.  Parents pick their students up from AMP at the end of the day.  Most intensive training activities end around 5:30 or 5:45, but students are welcome to stay until the 6:00 pm pick up deadline. 

In Decatur, students can ride CMC Decatur Shuttles from all CSD lower and upper elementary schools: Oakhurst, Winnona Park, Clairemont, Glenwood, Westchester Elementary, plus Fifth Ave and Talley Street Upper Elementary to our facility, which is in East Decatur Station, on Sams Street, across from the DeKalb County government building, and next to the Montessori Academy.   

In Little 5 Points, we offer shuttle service to our facility near the corner of Colquitt and Euclid Avenues.  Little 5 Points AMP students come from several nearby elementary schools, including SPARK, Mary Lin, Hope-Hill, Virginia-Highland, and Morningside Elementary, the Neighborhood Charter School, Montessori Intown, the Children's School, and Paideia.  

In Dunwoody, the AMP Shuttle is currently available for pick up from Austin Elementary and Woodland Elementary.

Please note:  If you do not see your student's school on our list, please inquire; we may be able to add shuttle service at your request.

Program Elements and Sample Schedule

AMP enrollment and tuition fees include enrollment and participation in our Core Program during the after school hours.  The CMC Atlanta Core Program includes:

• Weekly 30 to 45-minute private lessons in piano, guitar, bass, drums, strings, winds or voice 
• a variety of ongoing Comprehensive Musicianship Program (CMP) courses and workshops, including drumming, singing,notation, harmony, music recording, and more
• Performance Program enrollment: participation in small classical, jazz, rock, or roots ensembles and/or a music theater troupe

Sample Daily AMP Schedule

• 2:45 to 3:15 Arrival and transition to AMP
• 3:45 to 5:45 series of 30-, 45- and 60-minute Core Program Activity and Training Periods, including private lessons, supervised practice, music theory and musicianship classes (including singing, drumming, notation and harmony class), small ensemble (chamber, rock, jazz, or American folk music), video and art projects
• 5:45 - 6:00 Final check out period

Please note:  students are free to leave before 6:30 pm.  Once a student is enrolled, we design the student's schedule, including the timing of the private lessons, to accommodate the family's pick up plans.

The Program Calendar

AMP operates in sync with local schools, as follows:

• CMC Decatur whenever the City Schools of Decatur are open
• in Dunwoody, AMP is in session whenever DeKalb County Schools or Fulton County Schools are open
• The schedule in Inman Park is synced to the Atlanta Public School calendar