Who Shouldn’t Be in Music?
We spend a lot of time in music education talking about numbers. Depending on how the data are framed, we hear that around 20% to 24% of students participate in traditional high school music ensembles like band, choir, or orchestra. If we broaden the definition to include other types of music classes, that number can increase. Those are important conversations, and they matter for advocacy, funding, and program development. But lately, I’ve been wondering if we might be asking the wrong question.
Instead of asking how many students are in music, what if we asked a different question altogether: Can we think of a student who would not benefit from being in music?
Take a moment and really try to answer that. Not which students would not want to be in band or choir. Not which students would not fit into our current programs. But which students would not benefit from any kind of music learning experience?
Students Who Don’t Fit the System
When I think about that question, I can easily picture students who would not thrive in our current system, especially in large ensembles. I can think of students who do not want to perform on stage, who do not connect with traditional repertoire, or who are not interested in practicing an instrument alone for long periods. I can picture students who feel uncomfortable being evaluated publicly or who simply do not enjoy the performance-centered nature of ensemble classes. There are also students whose lives outside of school make participation difficult. Some have jobs. Some have family responsibilities. Some cannot commit to rehearsals, performances, or the long-term, sequential structure that many ensemble programs require.
We have all taught those students, and often they are the ones who end up outside music programs altogether.
When Music Exists but Doesn’t Connect
But I’ve also had experiences that have made me think even more deeply about this. I know someone now who plays in an incredibly successful rock band. They perform frequently, they are skilled musicians, and people love what they do. Music is clearly a central and meaningful part of their life. But when I asked about their experience in school music, the story was very different. They participated in band, but not because they enjoyed it. Their family was very musical, and they felt like being in the school music program was just what you were supposed to do. They went through it, but they didn’t connect with it. In fact, they didn’t like it. What they really wanted was to play in a band like the one their parents had been part of. That was the musical experience that mattered to them.
That story has stayed with me because it complicates the narrative. This is not someone who didn’t care about music. This is someone who cared deeply about music but didn’t see themselves in the version of music education that was offered to them.
Designing Around the Student
I see something similar, and maybe even more clearly, in my work with students with special needs through the Spectrum Project. When I think about those students, a traditional model like band, choir, or orchestra does not even come close to fitting. It is not a matter of making small adjustments or accommodations. The entire structure, pacing, expectations, and format do not align with who they are or how they learn.
So I find myself starting in a completely different place. I do not begin with the question, “How can we fit these students into existing programs?” Instead, I begin by asking, “What kinds of musical experiences would be meaningful for these students?”
And when I follow that question, the answers do not resemble what typically happens in school music programs. The experiences become more flexible, more creative, and more responsive. They center on connection, expression, and participation in ways that meet students where they are.
What strikes me is that when we work this way with students in the Spectrum Project, it feels obvious. Of course, we design around the student. Of course, we build musical experiences that fit them.
But in many school settings, we do not start there.
The Bigger Realization
When I shift the question and ask myself whether there are students who would not benefit from music in any form, I get stuck in a different way. I find it very difficult to come up with an answer. It is hard to imagine a student who would not benefit from creating something of their own, expressing how they feel, connecting with others through sound, or being part of a shared musical experience. Music offers something deeply human. It can support identity, connection, creativity, and a sense of belonging. These are not niche benefits. They are fundamental aspects of being a person.
This is where the conversation starts to change for me. The issue does not seem to be that students lack the need for music. The issue seems to be that many students are not connecting with the forms of music education we currently offer.
We See This Every Day
This becomes even clearer when we step outside of school and think about the people we encounter in our everyday lives. Think about the people you interact with in a typical week. Your nurse at a doctor’s appointment. The person sitting next to you on a plane. The cashier at the grocery store. The barista at a coffee shop. Many of them were not in high school music.
If you are a music teacher, you have probably had this experience countless times. Someone finds out what you do for a living and responds with something like, “That’s great, I wish I had stuck with music,” or “I never did band or choir in school.” Every now and then, you meet someone who lights up and says, “I was in band. I loved it.” Those moments are meaningful, and they remind us of the impact our programs can have.
But those are not the most common interactions. More often than not, we are talking to people who did not participate in school music, not because they could not have benefited from it, and not because music was not valuable to them, but because they were not part of the system we built.
What the Data Tell Us
When we return to the data, this lived experience aligns with what we see nationally. Research by Elpus and Abril (2019) found that approximately 24% of students in the high school class of 2013 enrolled in a traditional music ensemble at some point during their high school years. Even when broader definitions of participation are used, estimates suggest that roughly half of students participate in school music in some form (Arts Education Data Project, 2019), meaning a significant portion still do not engage in sustained music learning experiences. At the same time, reports from the National Association for Music Education indicate that over 90% of schools offer music instruction (NAfME, 2014). In other words, music is widely available, but participation remains limited.
This is an important distinction. Access does not automatically lead to engagement. The presence of a program does not guarantee that students will see themselves in it or choose to be part of it.
Ensembles Matter and Have Limits
It is also important to make it clear that this is not an argument against large ensembles. Band, choir, and orchestra programs are incredibly powerful. They create meaningful communities, develop high levels of musicianship, and provide life-changing experiences for many students. In fact, if roughly one in five students participates in ensembles, that is quite strong given how those groups are structured. Large ensembles require significant time commitments, depend on sequential skill development, and are often centered on performance outcomes. These characteristics make them both powerful and, at the same time, limited in how many students they can realistically serve.
The issue is not that ensembles are failing. The issue is that ensembles are one pathway into music, not the only pathway.
Expanding the Pathways
This leads to a different set of questions. Instead of asking how we can get more students into band or choir, we might ask what kinds of musical experiences would reach the students who are not currently in any music class. When we ask that question, new possibilities begin to emerge. Songwriting, modern band, music production, DJing, and other forms of music-making can provide entry points for students who do not connect with traditional ensembles. Informal and culturally connected music experiences can make music feel more relevant and accessible. These are not replacements for ensembles. There are additional pathways that can coexist alongside them.
Rethinking the Goal
Framing the goal of music education is also part of this conversation. For a long time, the implicit goal has often been to get more students into existing programs. While that is understandable, it may not be sufficient. Another way to think about the goal is to ensure that every student has access to a meaningful musical experience. That shift in framing moves the conversation away from recruitment into specific programs and toward designing a broader ecosystem of musical opportunities.
Back to the Question
When we think about it this way, the earlier question becomes even more important. Can we describe a student who would not benefit from music? I still cannot. I can describe students who would not thrive in certain types of music classes. I can describe students who would opt out of traditional ensembles for a variety of valid reasons. But I cannot describe a student who would not benefit from engaging with music in some way.
If that is true, the issue is not whether music belongs in students' lives. It is whether we are offering music in ways that allow more students to find a place within it.
The numbers matter, but they are not the whole story. Whether participation is 20%, 24%, or slightly higher, depending on how it is defined, we are still talking about a minority of students. That reality invites us to look beyond the numbers and consider the experiences behind them. Who is in our programs, who is not, and why?
Ultimately, this is not about replacing what already exists. It is about expanding what is possible. It is about recognizing the strengths of our current programs while also acknowledging their limitations. It is about designing music education to reflect the diversity of students’ interests, identities, and lives.
So I will return to the question one more time. Who should not be in music?
The more I think about it, the more I come to the same conclusion. I cannot think of anyone.
And that makes me believe that the real challenge in music education is not convincing students that music matters. It is creating opportunities that allow more of them to experience it in ways that feel meaningful, relevant, and accessible.
References
Arts Education Data Project. (2019). The state of arts education in America.https://www.artseddata.org
Elpus, K., & Abril, C. R. (2019). Who enrolls in high school music? A national profile of U.S. students, 2009–2013. Journal of Research in Music Education, 67(3), 323–338.https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429419862837
National Association for Music Education. (2014). The status of music education in U.S. public schools. Reston, VA: NAfME.
