Music in Schools Today

Music nurtures the human spirit, promotes personal development, and is central to learning and the creative process. Music and the arts are as essential to a well-rounded education as literacy, math and science. Music, both in and out of the classroom, promotes physical well-being and social understanding and helps build bridges within local and global communities.

Since 1983, Music in Schools Today (MUST) has served public school grades K-12 in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are a 501(c)3 tax exempt nonprofit.

​MUST is the Bay Area's answer to the crisis in music education. Despite extensive research indicating that music instruction supplies intellectual, emotional and physical components critical to children's development, music and arts programs are often the first victims of budget cuts.

​MUST combats this trend with a comprehensive set of programs that are resistant to budget slashing. MUST serves over 28,000 children and youth annually in schools and community centers, conducts research and development and advocates to restore music as an essential principle of pre-K through 12 education.

Our Programs

Music Enrichment

Music classes help at-risk youth improve school performance and build life skills. Our most popular program provides hand-tailored music classes to schools and community centers.

Our trained Teaching Artists can teach during the school day or as part of an after-school program:

Groove Lab, Drumming, Glee Club, Chorus, Hip Hop Dance, Salsa Dance, Beat Boxing and Hip Hop, Musical Theater, Orff, Murals and visual Arts. Currently serving individual Bay Area sites, music enrichment is available to requesting districts, schools and community centers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Music Integration

Workshops and training help classroom teachers implement the new Science and Core Curriculum Standards. Most teachers have never been taught how to integrate curriculum-we show them how! We offer professional development workshops as well as year-long programming during which teachers explore music’s connection to cultures, science, math and language. Our Music Integration experts provide one-on-one trianing and support in the classroom for teachers.Currently serving the districts of San Francisco through TEAM (TEAching through Music) and Oakland through Jazzocracy, music integration is available to requesting districts and schools in San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.

Music First!

Our Music First! Residency is designed as a music integration curriculum that teaches toddlers and young children in grades Pre-K through second grade.  We offer language acquisition and literacy skills through the lens of music education. Music First! enhances school readiness skills, such as social and emotional development, problem solving and the ability to work independently and with others.

Adopt an Instrument

Music in Schools Today has placed gently used instruments valued at $1 million into the hands of student musicians at over 100 schools. In several cases, donated instruments have made the difference between the beginning or continuation of a school’s instrumental program and its demise.

• $25 will give one child 8 weeks of music classes
• $50 will give one child 16 weeks of music classes
• $100 will give one child 27 weeks of music classes
• $750 will give an entire classroom 8 weeks of music class
• $1.500 will give an entire classroom 16 weeks of music class
• $3,000 will give an entire classroom 27 weeks of music class