How many students lack access to music education in the U.S.?

In 2024, approximately 1.3 million public school students in the U.S. have no access to any music education. Schools serving students from low-income backgrounds and communities of color are disproportionately affected.

How is Practicing Musician addressing the music education access gap?

Practicing Musician provides 3,500 plus free video lessons across 15 instruments to hundreds of thousands of students in 46 countries, completely free. It replicates the private lesson experience online so every student has access to world-class music instruction regardless of their school's budget or family income.

Practicing Musician: A Long Overdue Music Education Revolution

“Every person everywhere joyfully engaged in music”

Approximately 66% of Americans have explored playing a musical instrument at some point in their lives. Yet today, relatively few continue playing into adulthood. Within the millions who have stopped, or never started, there are undoubtedly a significant number of people who are interested, but unable, because of a lack of access to affordable lessons.

Approximately 7 million of those instrument-playing Americans are students in K-12 music programs. However, funding for K-12 music programs is severely limited. In 2024, approximately 1.3 million public school students in the U.S. have no access to any music education whatsoever. Only 17% of public high schools require music for graduation. And adjusted for inflation, state spending on music and arts instruction has decreased by 20% over the last decade.

The consequences are measurable. Schools with music programs have an estimated 90.2% graduation rate and 93.9% attendance rate, compared to schools without music education which average 72.9% graduation and 84.9% attendance. Music education is not an extracurricular luxury, it is a proven driver of student success across every metric schools care about.

Both the lack of funding for K-12 music programs and the high cost of private lessons are barriers to millions of people interested in learning to play an instrument, both students and non-students. Practicing Musician breaks down these barriers by bringing world-class music education to everyone, everywhere, completely free.

What Practicing Musician Does

Our service provides both the private lesson experience and easier access to musical resources, including structured lessons, sheet music, and real-time feedback, to anyone with a desire to learn to play.

Using learning technology best practices, Practicing Musician’s service can be used as an extended learning opportunity for K-12 band and orchestral students, or as a standalone private teaching resource for everyone, everywhere.

Envision, as a K-12 music educator, being able to provide effective, targeted, extended learning opportunities for all of your students. Imagine how this would narrow the achievement gap between students who can and cannot afford private lessons. Now envision, as a 70-year-old lover of music previously unable to afford to learn how to play an instrument, receiving step-by-step instructions, practice tools, and real feedback, completely free. Imagine how that 70-year-old would discover a dedication to the arts and reconnect to their past with newfound joy.

By combining data from research that studied how humans acquire and integrate knowledge, Practicing Musician’s service is designed with utmost simplicity so that everyone can successfully learn how to play an instrument.

Not a Replacement — An Extension

I am often met with opposition by music educators who fear Practicing Musician is an attempt to replace in-person music education. It is not. Practicing Musician serves as an effective and completely free resource for K-12 educators who desire to provide the private lesson experience to all students, and as the only private lesson experience that many at-home learners are able to access.

By reading more about how Practicing Musician works, you will come to understand why it is a more comprehensive and effective self-regulated learning tool than any other form of supplemental music education, including method books, YouTube channels, e-learning tools, and subscription services.

Practicing Musician can truly bring music education to everyone, everywhere. Once this becomes clear, I invite you to join me in advocating for the adoption of this simple, effective, and free resource, for every student, in every school, in every zip code.

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