Central Texas musician dreams of being music teacher

Local musician dreams of being music teacher

A local musician turned college graduate is following in his mother's footsteps. Ramon Cisneros recently got his degree in music education from Concordia University, where he was honored with some prestigious awards.

AUSTIN, Texas - Ramon Cisneros has always had a passion for music.

As he got older, he realized he wanted to pursue a career in music education.

"The first time I heard Beethoven, I was four years old, and it was such...it was...it was...to me as a four-year-old, it was so beautiful and, you know, it touched my soul," Cisneros said. "And ever since then, it's always been...music has always been a part of my life."

Cisneros was inspired by his mother to pick up an instrument, but Concordia University encouraged him to further his education. Last week, Cisneros graduated from university, where he received the Texas Music Educator Association Collegiate Music Educator Award and the Texas Future Music Educator Award.

"At graduation, as I was walking up to Donald Christian, he told me he's like, as he was giving me my certificate, he told me, it's like I have to say something about you," Cisneros said. "And I was like, okay, I wasn't sure what. And so, towards the end of the ceremony, he said, 'Where's Ramon? Is Ramon...Where's Ramon?' And I stood up. And he gave me a shout-out for being the very first graduate in music education at Concordia University, Texas."

MORE EDUCATION NEWS

He says making this decision to pursue a career in music was risky. But he realized music is his passion, and he wants to encourage other students to follow their dreams, whatever they may be.

"There's always going to be kids that need a music educator," Cisneros said. "You know, there are kids that if we were to have more music education, if we were to have more music educators, we would have more people to take care of those kids."

Cisneros says he wants to follow in his mother's footsteps and lead the next generation of musicians.

"So my plan is to substitute. Right now it's kind of in the middle of the year. And so right now, teachers are currently teaching their students," said Cisneros. "It's kind of the job pool right now, it's not going to be as available right now. And so I'm just going to be substituting until around March where the job positions start to open up."