A Successful Partnership With the Community Music School of Springfield

Giving back to the community that has supported us for all of these years is one of our top priorities at Gerry’s Music. We are extremely grateful for the ongoing support of our patrons, and feel honored to have participated in a partnership celebrating these relationships, with Sonido Musica, a collaborative program created by the Springfield Public Schools and the Community Music School of Springfield.

Sonido Musica is a relatively new program serving Springfield public middle schools which provides students with free lessons. The purpose of Sonido Musica is to provide an effective way of enhancing and/or establishing strong and sustainable instrumental music programs in the Springfield Public Schools. In the first year only string instruments were offered. However, due to the popularity of the program as well as community interest and support, in the second year teachers introduced band instruments so that students would have a wider selection.

This is where we came in! Gerry’s Music was thrilled to participate in this incredible partnership by providing 120 instruments for use during the program free-of-charge.

Now here’s a rundown of how this program works: Each partner school has lessons either during the school day or afterschool, depending on their individual schedules. Performances are built into the program as well. In January all students participate in the Dr. King Day celebration at the MassMutual Center and then in May, perform at Musical

Roots and Traditions. During the year, several special performances take place. In years past, students have been invited to perform with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra at the Third Annual El Systema Showcase in Boston.

This program has been highly regarded for many reasons, one being that no prerequisite is placed on the students requiring prior music education. This helps to provide a broad demographic of the school as a whole, and ensures that the students chosen come from a variety of backgrounds and life situations. In addition, this program has shown a significant positive impact around behavioral outcomes such as the reduction of out-of-school suspensions and disciplinary incidents.

For all of these reasons, Sonido Musica was honored by Yale University with a Yale Distinguished Music Education Partnership Award – one of 38 given nationally. Given that this is only the second year for this program, this is an amazing accomplishment.

This is one example of incredible collaboration that is occurring in our neighborhoods. Gerry’s Music is proud to give back and is excited to look forward to our next project!