He began by playing cello and eventually moved to bass, bajo sexto, and other stringed instruments.
Cenobio Hernández was heavily active in the late 1920s performing in orchestras in the silent film industry.
Inspired in an instant, Cenobio would use a pencil to write ideas on paper bags and other everyday materials, hand-drawing the staff lines, the harmony, and then the melody.
Ice skaters Liz Punsalan and Jerod Shallow (of the U.S. team) used some of Hernández's compositions as background for their 1994 and 1998 Olympic competitions in Lillehammer, Norway, and Nagano, Japan.
While over 100 polkas and waltzes exist, the oldest piece discovered, which was composed by Cenobio Hernández, was written in 1896.