Music instruction in the classroom is one of the several subjects at risk in today's climate of shrinking school budgets, and significant classroom emphasis on excelling in the core subjects found on standardized tests like English language arts and math. However, there is a significant amount of research that shows music instruction and exposure to music provides significant benefits to students and is essential to creating well-rounded adults. 

Music instruction should be open to all students because it encourages creativity, positively affects their self-image, fosters positive social interaction, provides a medium in which they can express and feel emotions, and sets the stage for life-long music appreciation.  

Bache-Martin places a high value on music for its students for these very reasons and is one of the few Philadelphia elementary public schools that aside from a full-time music teacher, offers violin instruction to students starting in Kindergarten. The demand and interest for violin instruction by our students is evidenced by the fact that the school does not have enough instruments to offer to students who are interested. For those not selected by lottery to get a violin from the school, the student's family must rent or buy an instrument for them to be able to participate. 

With a student population where over 90% of students are from low-income families, the ability to rent/buy a violin is not feasible for most of our families. Through this campaign, we are seeking to purchase 5 quarter-size violins to add to the school's inventory so that every student who is interested in playing violin can play. This purchase will benefit students for many years to come as these violins will be available to students every school year. 

In the words of Aaron Hoke, the itinerant strings teacher at Bache-Martin, "Music is a subject worth learning within itself because it teaches kids the value of hard work and is a tangible way to apply critical thinking skills.  Most importantly, music can give a child a chance to excel at something when they may not do that in the classroom necessarily."

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