Education Through Music-Los Angeles puts music back into inner-city schools as part of the core curriculum for every child, where it belongs. Education Through Music-LA is serving nearly 12,000 students with weekly, yearlong music instruction. Music has the power to transform the lives of children and their communities, and to provide them with such lifelong benefits including self-confidence, problem-solving skills, teamwork, perseverance, concentration, and motivation to stay in school.
Our objectives include:
- Weekly, yearlong instruction for every child.
- Integration across the curriculum to reinforce overall learning.
- Ongoing training for music teachers and class teachers.
- Guidance for school leaders to build towards sustainability.
- Parent engagement and involvement as advocates for their music program.
ETM-LA establishes strong partnerships with Los Angeles County schools to provide comprehensive, high-quality music education based on CA State and National Standards, during the school day. While many programs may serve only a subset of the school population, we provide equity for all children, including those with special needs, engaging every child with weekly, yearlong standards-based instruction that integrates skills and concepts across the curriculum.
Areas of instruction include general music, strings, guitar, recorder, ukulele, band, and chorus, determined through customized planning with each school. Depending on the grade level, each student receives one 30-50-minute music class weekly throughout the entire school year in a designated music room.
In order to ensure high quality instruction for all students, music teachers participate in six annual professional development workshops and a five-day intensive training institute every August. We also provide academic teachers at partner schools with professional development workshops on how to connect skills and concepts from the music curriculum into lesson plans. In addition, ETM-LA helps principals and school district leaders plan for long-term sustainability.
Our in-school music education and training programs are overseen by Program Director Ryan Rowles, M. Ed, a school music educator with over 16 years’ experience, as well as Executive Director Victoria Lanier, a Juilliard Pre-College trained violinist with a B.A. from Princeton University and an M.A. in Education from Columbia Teachers College. ETM-LA's professional development workshops are hands-on, relevant to the participants and their teaching needs, and customized to provide support for a wide range of teaching levels.