Why I’m giving money to
music programs

Students who attend Concord High School are able to take band, jazz band, piano, choir, and music theory during their school days. They can rent instruments for $50 each year, and their participation in marching band requires only an additional uniform fee of $25. All the directors are paid by the school district, which also pays for a music secretary. Music in the Concord school district starts with regular instruction in the elementary schools. Students who go to Concord schools may not know that they’ve hit the music-education jackpot, but they do know that music is important to their community—and that it’s available to them.

Most students and most school districts aren’t so lucky. Funding for music and the arts in our nation’s schools has been declining for decades. Ongoing budget crises and a tight focus on basic skills have worsened the situation. The unique qualities of music education— its reliance on expensive instruments and qualified teachers, the importance of daily instruction, group dynamics—work against it in such an environment. It can be easier to let music programs fall to the budget ax than to put in place the curriculum, teachers, instruments, and institutional and community support necessary to create a successful program.

And yet it’s important to bring music to young people everywhere, no matter where they live. Study after study tells us what we should know intuitively—that learning to play music in an ensemble makes us better students, better employees, better citizens, better people.

Even before I was done writing American Band, I wanted to help raise money for music in the schools. As part of the book tour following the hardcover release, I donated over $15,000 to more than one hundred music programs around the country. I will continue to support fund-raising and awareness efforts for music in the schools. (Go to special offers for more information.)