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Our Teachers
​Meet our staff

Shelley Godfrey 

Shelley has been teaching for over 20 years in Westlake Village and Ventura. She completed her BA and K-8 teaching credential from Point Loma Nazarene College. Shelley lives in Camarillo with her husband and two of her 4 children. She loves playing pickleball, reading, and playing games with her family.

Emily Hall



Emily Hall is a CMA teacher and resident voice coach for the Ventura Studio.  Emily is the director of Ojai’s Madrigali renaissance choir and vocal director of OYES productions and the show choir. She has been the vocal director and a performer at numerous Ventura County theaters. Emily received her B.M. in vocal performance from the University of Redlands.

Adam Tune


Adam grew up listening to his dad play trombone in orchestras and big bands, and started playing clarinet in elementary school. In his teens, he started learning guitar and writing his own songs, and by his senior year in high school, he produced an album for his solo project and distributed CDs.  Adam studied Composition and Arranging at Azusa Pacific University, where he was a Music Theory TA and tutor. He's motivated by an intense curiosity and passion for music. He's never found a chord or scale he didn't find intriguing. 

Jen Waldman


Jen Waldman is a dedicated dance educator, choreographer, and performer with a strong background in jazz, modern, and ballet dance. A native Californian, she received her training at some of Hollywood’s most prestigious studios, including Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio and Joe Tremaine Dance Center. Jen has taught and choreographed for numerous studios in Los Angeles and Santa Fe, NM, and was honored to choreograph a production of the iconic West Side Story for an after-school program. For Jen, the most rewarding part of teaching is when the movement clicks—when her students truly connect with the choreography and experience the joy and passion of dance that drives her own love for the art form.

Laura Young


Laura Young is the franchise owner of Children's Music Academy of Ventura and Westlake Village and founder of Speranza Performing Arts Academy.  Laura has been teaching at CMA for 24 years and is also a composer of modern instrumental, choral, art songs and duets for piano and flute. Laura earned her BA at CSU, Dominguez Hills, her MFA in Music Composition at Vermont College of Fine Arts and an acting certificate from the National Shakespeare Conservatory.