Music in schools

“Sometimes, it’s hard not to smile. Like, every time when I finish school and I come into Harmony, when I just hit that first note, it makes me smile.” – J. Deshommes, Harmony Program violin student
“I can’t imagine my life without music, especially on my violin. Me and my violin is, like, best friends.” – Lexy Ramkissoon, Harmony Program violin student

Serving mostly low-income children in New York City, an innovative music education program called Harmony provides free instruments and daily music lessons to children in third through sixth grades. Correspondent John Merrow reports on this arts program changing lives in public schools, based on a system developed in Venezuela, called El Sistema. For 36 years, El Sistema has inspired children to stay in school by giving them free instruments and three to four hours of music instruction every day -- read here