Music In Our Schools Month or “MIOSM” is NAfME’s annual celebration during March which engages music educators, students, and communities from around the country in promoting the benefits of high quality music education programs in schools.
Music In Our Schools Month began as a single statewide Advocacy Day and celebration in New York in 1973 and grew over the decades to become a month-long celebration of school music in 1985.
How can I get involved in Music In Our Schools Month?
Music teachers celebrate MIOSM in many ways by offering special performances, lessons, sing-alongs and activities to bring their music programs to the attention of administrators, parents, colleagues, and communities to display the positive benefits that school music brings to students of all ages.
NAfME provides many special resources for teachers and schools to use in their concerts, lessons, and advocacy events that highlight the importance of school music, including –
- The Concert for Music In Our Schools Month, formerly known as the World’s Largest Concert® will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2015. Free sheet music and audio performance tracks are provided exclusively for NAfME members by sponsor Hal Leonard Corporation for school activities in celebration of Music In Our Schools Month.
- Create a performance video of your students singing Concert songs for the NAfME website during March. Past videos have been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
- The National Association for Music Education provides the MIOSM theme for the year.
- Special MIOSM awareness items such as T-shirts, posters, buttons, and other items useful in the music classroom.
- Request MIOSM Participation Certificate.
- Request U.S. Capitol Flag certificate.
- Share Your Story about how music education, or a special music educator impacted your life.
- Secure a governor’s proclamation.
NAfME hopes that teachers, administrators, parents, students, and community supporters of music will join the celebration of Music In Our Schools Month through the above-listed events and activities and by creating events of their own.
