Oct 15, 2026 · 48 min · 13 segments
Education Through Music teaches music to about 20,000 kids a week in New York City public schools. That work caught the eye of Taylor Swift. Swift's publicist called ETM with a $2 million gift. ETM…
Janice WeinmanGuest
Lee WochnerHost
So, so now you are CEO of Education Through Music, which I really wanna dig into here.
Education Through Music is really a unique organization, and when I say that, I'm, I'm really not overstating.
We provide music education K through 12 to underserved students in New York City public schools.
[clears throat] We reach around 20,000 students every week, but the thing about Education Through Music is, is we provide this as a core subject.
We don't just come into the school and p- as artists and have students, you know, watch performers or hear performers.
We are embedded in the school, and we are so much embedded in the school that it becomes part of the climate of the school.
So we teach every aspect of music, every genre, every [clears throat] t- harmony, uh, rhythm, um, everything that is involved with music.
We draw from different cultures so that students can identify with the music that they learn.
They can either perform in a choir or in a band or in an orchestra, and that really gives them the tangible part of understanding how music is formed, how it is performed-
I, I mean, I, I studied, um, music in grade school and high school, and then in college, uh, as well, and every, every phase of that really affected me.
We only go to schools that are underserved resource schools, Title I schools that have a certain level of poverty rate.
And we approach them, um, in many cases because we've been in the school system for 35 years, school principals will refer us to other schools.
We meet with the principal of the school who is our partner, and we call our schools partner schools, because they are Department of Education schools.
So, so now you are CEO of Education Through Music, which I really wanna dig into here.
Education Through Music is really a unique organization, and when I say that, I'm, I'm really not overstating.
We provide music education K through 12 to underserved students in New York City public schools.
[clears throat] We reach around 20,000 students every week, but the thing about Education Through Music is, is we provide this as a core subject.
We don't just come into the school and p- as artists and have students, you know, watch performers or hear performers.
We are embedded in the school, and we are so much embedded in the school that it becomes part of the climate of the school.
So we teach every aspect of music, every genre, every [clears throat] t- harmony, uh, rhythm, um, everything that is involved with music.
We draw from different cultures so that students can identify with the music that they learn.
They can either perform in a choir or in a band or in an orchestra, and that really gives them the tangible part of understanding how music is formed, how it is performed-
I, I mean, I, I studied, um, music in grade school and high school, and then in college, uh, as well, and every, every phase of that really affected me.
We only go to schools that are underserved resource schools, Title I schools that have a certain level of poverty rate.
And we approach them, um, in many cases because we've been in the school system for 35 years, school principals will refer us to other schools.
We meet with the principal of the school who is our partner, and we call our schools partner schools, because they are Department of Education schools.
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