Music in Schools Today is a non-profit organization that develops and delivers music education programs that increase student academic achievement and emotional well-being.
VISION
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 and the arts, both in and out of the classroom, promotes physical well-being and social understanding and helps build bridges within local and global communities.
History
MUST was founded in 1983, but its origins begin in 1980, when the San Francisco Board of Education voted to eliminate the elementary school music program. Concerned citizens approached Sir Yehudi Menuhin and members of the San Francisco Symphony to make a presentation to the Board. After Sir Menuhin's inspired address, the Board gave a standing ovation and restored the music budget. S*F* City Fund was formed by members of the original coalition in 1983 and began funding choral programs in San Francisco middle schools.
In response to community requests, in 1989 we changed our name to Music in Schools Today (MUST) and began to support music and arts programs for children and youth around the San Francisco Bay Area.
Achievements
MUST brings toddlers, children and youth the joys of music making. We build long-term relationships with districts and schools, offering long-range planning and teacher and artist training to build sustainable programs, bringing the healing power of music to the larger San Francisco Bay Area. We offer comprehensive in and after-school programming, serving all nine districts and schools around the Bay.
MUST has provided music classes to over half a million underserved children - over 51,000 through our annual instrument donation program and another 3,000 through artist-led residencies. Our multicultural residencies have served over 60,000 children over 20 years. Through our annual instrument drive, we have placed gently-used and new instruments valued at over a million dollars into the hands of Bay Area children.
MUST has successfully advocated to save music programs, provided services to parents, children, bands, districts and schools in Alameda, Berkeley, Burlingame, Cloverdale, Contra Costa, Cupertino, Daly City, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Franklin-McKinley, Fremont, Half-Moon Bay, Honda-Pescadero, Marin, Morgan Hill, Oakland, Pleasanton, Richmond, San Bruno, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, San Francisco and San Mateo.
In collaboration with national Head Start, we are implementing a pre-school music integration residency model for national distribution, currently serving all Head Start sites in San Mateo and pre-school centers in Daly City, San Bruno and San Francisco. With Johns Hopkins Science of Learning Institute, we are undertaking research on the positive effects of arts interventions pre-K – 12.
Highlights
MUST helped keep music alive through budget cuts of Proposition 13 and after the 2007 financial crisis. In 1991, MUST led the effort by the Board of Supervisors and other community groups to incorporate the elementary music education budget into the Children's Initiative. In the next year, we worked together to roll it over to become a part of the City budget for the next ten years.
MUST led a seven-year Opera Partners program in collaboration with Opera America, San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Visual and Performing Arts Office and local partners, modeling a music integration program for San Francisco Opera and other programs around the Bay.
With SFUSD Department of Special Services, we developed and implemented a music therapy program over seven years, at its height serving over 10,000 children annually.
We participated for 12 years in the Music in Education National Consortium. Provided curriculum and PD to SFUSD Science Department’s four-year SLANT program. With Oakland Unified School District(OUSD) VAPA, conducted research, and partnered with them for 20 years, offering PD and district-wide music classes.
We collaborated with OUSD to train music teachers and keep VAPA intact. We administered a four-year research grant from United States Department of Education on the effects of music integration on student literacy.
We collaborated with SFUSD Science Department on SLANT, a four-year arts/science PD, designing arts/science integrated curriculum, providing teaching artists and training classroom teachers in its use.
We created an after-school music and arts program for the District of San Lorenzo that reached students K-12, with everything from gospel choir and groove lab to mural making, fashion design and puppetry. This Music Plus! program provides a model for our other after-school programs around the Bay.