Mission
AMB is dedicated to addressing the unique talents and challenges of blind youth by developing their musical, creative, cognitive, physical and social skills through education in music and the performing arts.
Vision
Our vision is a world where a comprehensive education in music and the performing arts will be available to blind youth regardless of economic status or geography. With the development of their unique talents they will be able to integrate into mainstream educational and workplace settings, while inspiring and contributing to the larger community.
Dear AMB Friends,
There are hundreds of excellent music institutes that meet the needs of the sighted. AMB specifically addresses the educational, social, and physical needs of musically gifted blind youth so that they can fully develop their unique talents and be prepared for integration into the workplace or other educational settings. AMB is not only a ground-breaking institute of education for blind music students, but also provides the example and educational strategies that other schools of music can draw from in order to serve the needs of their blind students.
For 20 years AMB has offered the only year-round comprehensive music and performing arts education for the blind. With the help of generous private donors, foundations, corporate sponsors, and volunteers, we are looking forward to another 20 years serving gifted blind children all over the United States. Our online program serves youth outside the Greater Los Angeles area, and our in-person Facility in Whittier, California serves students in the Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and Valley communities.
AMB is a dream come true . . . a Disneyland for blind music students, and an inspiration to us all.
Sincerely,
David & Gayle Pinto, Founders AMB
Layne Beamer
Chairman of the Board
Pastor Central Christian Church. B.S. Communications. Doctor of Ministry degree from The Claremont School of Theology. Austin, Texas
Maurice Meysenburg
Public Relations
Ken Sitzwhol
Treasurer & Investment Committee
Former Manager United Airline Cargo Sales. Masters in Business Administration, IndustrialManagement. Whittier, Cal
David Pinto
Member
CEO/Founder YesAccessible Software Company, Executive Director AMB. Monrovia, CA
Deb Beyer
Faculty relations
Debra Davis is a singer/songwriter and educator. She is on the Songwriting Faculty of Los Angeles College of Music and teaches songwriting through Citrus College at Calif. School of the Arts.
Joe Joffrion
Legal advisor
Joe Joffrion currently serves as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Impac Mortgage Holdings, Inc. Mr. Joffrion holds a Juris Doctorate from Western State College of Law.
Tracey Riddle
Social Media
Grandparent AMB Student Jocelyn Riddle, owner of Riddle Catering Business. Sylmar, CA
David Pinto
Executive Director
Gayle Pinto
Office Manager
OUR WORLD-CLASS TEACHERS
AMB teachers are chosen based on the following qualifications:
- Currently active as a publicly-performing musician
- Can improvise and play by ear
- Have a Music Degree
- Creative teacher
- Love teaching children
Our current faculty includes teachers in piano, percussion, guitar, winds, voice, dance, drama, literary & music Braille, composing and computer recording. All of our teachers are professional performing musicians with college degrees: many of them being graduates of prestigious institutions like Berklee College of Music, Cal Arts, and USC. They are all trained to provide specialized and adaptive instructions to blind students.
- Piano, Arranging, Chorus, Computer Recording, Dance, Song Writing: David Pinto
- Piano & Theory: Andy Boyle
- Piano & Song Writing: Santiago Vidal
- Voice, Dance, & Drama: Eliza Gerontakis
- Voice: Anastasia Charakidou
- Voice, Guitar, Bass, Drums: Apostolos Papapostolou
- Guitar: Sam Borello
- Guitar, Song Writing: Gene Micofsky
- Guitar, Piano, Braille Music: Hector Ibarra
- Drums, Ross Hodgkinson
- Drums, Latin Percussion: Lorena Perez Batista
- Drums & Latin Percussion: Oscar Barcelli
- Winds: Andrew Shousha
- Winds, Piano, Guitar & Song Writing: Eddie Salcido
- Braille Music, Drums, Latin Percussion: Tony Del Castillo
- Braille Music, Drums: Lawrence Brown
- Braille Music, Piano Accompanist: Katie Zodrow
- Braille Literary, Living Skills & Computers: Gayle Pinto
- Dance & Movement: Carmary Rivera