Founded in 1991, Education Through Music (ETM) partners with under-resourced schools to provide music as a core subject for all children, and utilizes music education as a catalyst to improve academic achievement, motivation for school and self-confidence.

ETM’s partner schools are located in the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island .ETM also helped bring quality music education to over 18,000 additional children through advising licensed affiliate organizations in Los Angeles, Colorado, and Boston.

ETM’s programs improve students’ academic achievement, self-confidence, and motivation for school. Ongoing assessment of our programs has found that students receiving ETM’s program perform better academically than students in schools with similar demographics that do not receive ETM’s program. Students’ participation in ETM music class and school performances contributes to their creativity as well as to social and emotional capacities. Students in ETM partner schools have also earned higher scores on Math and English Language Arts assessment.

ETM provides under-resourced schools with a music educator to serve every child every week throughout the school year. ETM’s programs include a comprehensive, sequential music curriculum. We teach music as a core subject, and it is used to support learning in all areas. We work to transition our music teachers from our payroll onto the school’s to create a long-term, sustainable program. ETM advocates to all the school’s stakeholders, including parents and teachers.

To apply for a teaching position with ETM, CLICK HERE.

Our long-term goal is to build sustainability in each of our partnerships and work towards getting ETM teachers hired directly by the principals of the schools they are placed in.

This depends on how much previous music instruction the students have received. ETM has created benchmarks of skills to be attained for each grade.

Each ETM Music Teacher receives informal observations from the program staff at least once a month. Formal observations are conducted twice a year. Observations focus on lesson planning, pacing, classroom management, student interaction, integration, etc.

While this varies depending on background and training, it is not atypical, especially for beginning teachers, to spend an hour or more preparing each lesson plan, with a plan being required for each grade level. Thorough planning is critical to success in the classroom. Homework, worksheet, quizzes, projects and other assignments also take time to assess and record.

ETM is willing to accommodate a limited amount of absence due to touring, recording sessions or auditions if they do not amount to more than two weeks per school year. If such interruptions exceed these two weeks or become too frequent, then instructional consistency will suffer and continuing as an ETM Music Teacher may not be feasible. However, a principal’s recommendation of the Music Teacher’s value to the school and that principal’s willingness to accommodate the necessary rescheduling on the Music Teacher’s behalf may offer a suitable solution in some cases if program quality is not compromised.

ETM provides an assortment of general music classroom instruments such as hand percussion, recorders, xylophones, etc., for use in our partner schools. We provide music teachers with teaching resources such as curriculum materials, a lesson planner, markers, giant staff paper, instrument posters, music history timelines and other visual music learning aids and decorations.

There is also a resource lab located in our main office on 42nd Street that is available to our Music Teachers any time during office hours and is stocked with a wide array of music education books and learning materials. In addition to this, we encourage our schools to pursue grant opportunities, and several have been successful in securing donated instruments.

Yes. ETM provides ongoing training and professional development to ETM Music Teachers and to school-employed music teachers.

Before each school year, ETM Programs Staff hosts ETM Academy, an intensive clinic covering topics such as classroom management, lesson planning, assessment, integration, and other concepts and strategies that supply teachers with the tools needed for success.

Throughout the school year, we provide day-long and evening workshops in both small and large group settings to reinforce training and introduce other topics. For example, workshops have covered choral conducting techniques, body percussion, and incorporating the use of Orff instruments. ETM pays training stipends for all sessions.

We also provide ongoing mentoring and coaching throughout the year.

ETM Music Teachers who maintain a regular teaching schedule of four or more days per week are eligible to enroll in an employee-contributed health insurance plan. Each Music Teacher also receives a number of paid sick days pro-rated based on their regular teaching schedule.

ETM is on a semi-monthly payroll. ETM Music Teachers are paid for classes and all other activities taught during the previous two weeks. Pay day is the 15th and last day of the month for the previous period.

Because ETM can offer substantial and sustained employment throughout the school year, it can also offer a dependable and consistent level of income. Our teachers get paid a semi-monthly salary, depending on teaching experience and educational qualifications. Merit raises are considered once a year, typically during the summer months.

ETM Music Teachers are employees of ETM, not consultants. Taxes, social security, etc., are withheld as directed by law.

Over time, we work with our partner school principals to help them find room in their budgets to hire music teachers to school staff, so our long-term goal is for our teachers to get hired directly by our partner schools. However, our newest partnerships are not ready for this yet, and so ETM typically employs more than 40 “ETM Music Teachers” each year.

If you are hired by one of our partner schools we will continue to provide you with support and training, at the discretion of the principal.

ETM requires all of its music teachers to have degrees in music education, performance, or music therapy. Most of ETM’s music teachers hold degrees in music education.

Individuals who do not currently hold ‘eligible’ status for classroom teaching from the NYC Department of Education (DOE) will be required to undergo a fingerprinting and background check via the DOE Personnel Eligibility Tracking System (PETS). Only those persons who receive ‘eligible’ status from the NYCDOE are eligible for hire by ETM.

Online: Donate online using a Visa, Master Card, American Express, or Discover credit card or through Pay Pal.

By check: You can send a check or money order payable to “Education Through Music” to:

Education Through Music, Inc.
122 East 42nd Street, Suite 1501
New York, NY 10168

By phone: You can make a credit card donation by phone by calling the ETM office at 212-972-4788 between 9:00am and 5:00pm Eastern Time.

Other: For additional information about other ways to donate, including securities, donor-advised funds, or planned giving, please contact the development department by calling (212) 972-4788 or sending an email to development@etmonline.org

Please contact the development department by calling (212) 972-4788 or sending an email to development@etmonline.org.

Yes. Our online donation form provides space for you to indicate whom you are honoring, and, if appropriate, whom you would like us to notify and with what message. If you donate by mail or phone, just include this same information at the time of your donation.

No. ETM will not trade, share, or sell a donor’s personal information with anyone else unless required by law to do so. ETM does not send donor mailings on behalf of other organizations.

Yes. Education Through Music is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, Federal Tax ID #13-3613210.  Donations are deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Donations help sustain ETM’s partner school program, which reaches tens of thousands of children in under-resourced New York City schools.