Turlock Music Academy takes the stage at Stan State

The Turlock Music Academy held its spring student recital at Stan State’s Student Center.

The two-hour recital, held March 28, featured performers ages 5 to 12 playing songs such as “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Fly Me to the Moon,” showcasing the skills they have learned at the academy.

Founder Malachi Hernandez (Graduate, English Literature) held the academy’s grand opening on March 19. Before launching the business, Hernandez taught music as a private instructor under his own name.

He has performed at various venues and events, mostly weddings and had a weekly performance at the Fairmont in San Jose. However, he said that COVID-19 changed everything about how he did business, and it forced him to make serious choices about his professional life.

“It was either I stopped doing music and then tried to be like an English professor or something, 
but I decided I’m not gonna do that,” Hernandez said.

Instead of a career in formal education, he opened the Turlock Music Academy.

“I felt like there was a demand,” he said. “There’s like one other place in town that gives music tutoring, and I wanted to fill that need.”

Hernandez’s educational philosophy reflects linguistic pedagogy. Proficiency in music literacy, like language, is something students will carry beyond instruction and that will help them with various instruments throughout their learning experience.

Choosing Stan State as the venue for the recital was deliberate. He learned about booking the space through his involvement with Penumbra, the university’s literary journal.

“I thought it was just a nice venue, and I’m familiar with campus and I plan on having future events here,” he said.

Ting Ting Zheng watched proudly from the audience as her nine-year-old performed Allegro in C major, and “Another One Bites the Dust” on piano and drums. Her son had never touched a piano before her family first found Hernandez two years ago.

“He’s really patient, and yeah, I know my son sometimes he’s a little bit shy, and sometimes he will shut down, but he is a really patient teacher, and I’m so fortunate to have him to be my son’s teacher,” Zheng said.

Ryan “Colt” Coleman, a guitarist and the performer who played at the Academy’s opening ceremony, was invited to perform after the main event.

Coleman lived in Los Angeles for 11 years before returning to the Central Valley, also citing difficulties adapting after the COVID pandemic and said the region has something special to offer.

“In Los Angeles, there would be a million artists competing for the same gig,” Coleman said. “Since moving back, I have had more expansive musical experiences because of the decentralization.”

He was glad for the invitation to perform and has a deep, familial connection to music education in the community. His father, Arthur Coleman, taught in Stockton for 45 years and even had a school building named after him.

“It’s encouraging to see small businesses like Turlock Music Academy and teachers like Malachi taking up the reins and continuing the kind of work that my dad did for so long,” Coleman said.

At the Turlock Music Academy at 200 N. Broadway, Malachi Hernandez offers private lessons in piano, guitar, percussion and voice.