What Is the Certificate of Merit? A Parent's Guide

How Aslanyan School of Music helps students prepare for California's premier music evaluation program.

If your child takes music lessons in California,you may have heard other parents mention “CM” or the “Certificate of Merit.” It sounds official — and it is — but it's also one of the best tools available for helping a young musician grow with real purpose and direction. Here's what it actually is, and how we prepare our students at Aslanyan School of Music to succeed in it.

What Is the Certificate of Merit?

The Certificate of Merit® (CM) is a music evaluation program sponsored by the Music Teachers' Association of California(MTAC). It's been around since 1933, and today more than 27,000 students take part each year across the state. CM is offered for a wide range of instruments,including piano, violin, cello, viola, voice, flute, guitar, and several other orchestral and band instruments.

Rather than being a single performance or recital, CM is a structured, multi-year curriculum. Each instrument has its own 10- or 11-level syllabus, and students move up through the levels over the course of their musical education — much like grade levels in school. At every level, a student's teacher helps select repertoire and set goals that are appropriately challenging, so progress feels steady and achievable rather than overwhelming.

What Does the Evaluation Involve?

CM evaluates the whole musician, not just performance ability. Each year, students are assessed in three areas:

• Performance — Students prepare a recorded performance of their assigned repertoire, which is reviewed by a state-approved evaluator who provides a detailed written assessment.
• Theory and ear training — An online exam tests students' understanding of music theory concepts and their ability to identify what they hear, from intervals to chord qualities.
• Sight-reading — Students demonstrate their ability to read and play unfamiliar music on the spot, a skill that builds musical independence and confidence.

Enrollment typically opens in the fall, and evaluations take place between January and March, either at are gional testing facility or online. Students who pass receive an official MTAC certificate along with written feedback, and graduating high school seniors who complete the full syllabus can earn a medallion. Students with exceptional results may even be invited to perform at MTAC's state convention.

Why CM Is Worth Pursuing

CM gives students something that regular lessons alone sometimes can't: a clear, external benchmark of progress. It encourages well-rounded musicianship by requiring skill in performance, theory, ear training, and sight-reading all at once, rather than letting any one area lag behind. For many families, it also becomes a meaningful record of achievement — something colleges and scholarship committees recognize, and something students look back on with pride.

How Aslanyan School of Music Prepares Students

At Aslanyan School of Music, CM preparation isn't an add-on — it's built directly into our teaching. We run a dedicated CM curriculum track, where our instructors select the right starting level for each student based on their current ability and pace of growth, then design lesson plans around the official syllabus for that level.

That means every lesson works toward the same four pillars CM evaluates: technique and repertoire, theory,ear training, and sight-reading. Rather than cramming before evaluation season,our students build these skills gradually throughout the year, so they arrive at their CM evaluation prepared, confident, and comfortable with the material —not just for a test, but as musicians.

If you're curious whether CM is a good fit for your child, we'd love to talk with you about their current level and what a personalized path through the program could look like. Reach out to Aslanyan School of Music to learn more.

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