Live Music in the Schools

– To see how our Live Music in the Schools courses align with TEKS click here

– Meet the professional musicians who have worked with Texas Music Partners by clicking here

 

TMP Live Music in the Schools

 

Live Music in the Schools is Here!

Texas Music Partners Live Music in the Schools is a program designed to bring professional musicians into your school to perform for students.  Each year TMP will feature a style of music, artist, or theme.  Texas Music Partners will come to your school and

  1. Teach a workshop on the season’s featured theme.  Then
  2. That Friday, a live band will visit the school to perform a show based on that theme, while encouraging students to try band, orchestra, or choir.

 

We also have a course for Middle and High School students, which includes a performance and Q&A session in the same class.  This is for students who are already in their school’s music program and may be considering a career or side occupation in the music industry.

 

Musical Focus

The musical styles we focus on originated in the United States or gained popularity through American society. These include, but are not limited to, jazz, blues, rock & roll, and R&B. We also teach students how these styles have influenced popular music, helping them connect with the origins of the music they listen to today.

 

Program Goals

  • Introduce Music History and Appreciation: The Live Music in the Schools program aims to introduce music history and appreciation to students directly.
  • Connect Music to American Society: To show the student how that music segment fits into American society.
  • Link Past Music with the Present: Once students learn about a segment of American music, we show them how that segment fits into today’s popular music.
  • Reinforcement Through Live Performance: Later that week, professional musicians visit the school to reinforce what they’ve learned by performing live.
  • Encourage Students to Learn and Support Live Music: After the performance, students are encouraged to learn to play an instrument, as well as support live music.
  • Support Local Music Programs: This program is meant to help our local band, orchestra, and choir directors by getting more students involved in music.
  • Foster Creative Thinking: The program helps students experience music as a creative outlet, encouraging them to think outside the box.

 

This Season’s Theme

This season’s theme (2025-26) is Calypso Music in the U.S.

 

 

1. Standard Workshop and Performance

Recommended Audience: 3rd – 8th grade

Class Size: Workshop: About 50 students / Performance: All students, 3rd grade and up, in elementary and middle school.

  • Offered: In-school only
  • Duration (2 sessions): 1 workshop and 1 performance (45 minutes each)
    • The workshop should be done the week of the performance.  TMP can teach up to three 45-minute workshops per school, if scheduled back-to-back in one day.
    • Performances are usually done on a Friday morning or afternoon.  One performance per school, per year.
  • Prerequisites: None

 

2. Performance for After-School Programs

Recommended Audience: 3rd – 12th grade

Performance Only: All students enrolled in an after-school program (ACE, Prime Time, Boys & Girls Club, etc.)

  • Offered: After-school only*
  • Duration: 1 performance (~45 minutes)
    • Please schedule all students to attend at the same time, prior to your pick-up schedule.
    • One performance per school, per year.
  • Prerequisites: None

*If an in-school performance is already scheduled at that school, it takes precedence, as students will already be at that performance.

 

3. Performance with a Q&A Session

Recommended Audience: Middle School – High School students

Class Size: All students in a school’s music program

  • Offered: In-school only
  • Duration: 1 performance with a Q&A session (~45 minutes)
    • This is for students who have thought about music as a career or side occupation and would like to hear professional musicians perform and ask them questions.
    • Performances are usually done on Friday morning or afternoon (e.g., 9:30 or 1:30).  One performance per school, per year.
  • Prerequisites: None

Schools Where Texas Music Partners Has Performed

  • Becker Elementary
  • Blazier Intermediate
  • Brown Elementary
  • Doss Elementary
  • Govalle Elementary
  • Hill Elementary
  • Linder Elementary
  • Mathews Elementary
  • Mills Elementary
  • Oak Springs Elementary
  • Ortega Elementary
  • Palm Elementary
  • Pillow Elementary
  • Pleasant Hill Elementary
  • Sanchez Elementary
  • St. Elmo Elementary
  • Wayside Sci-Tech High School
  • Winn Montessori
  • Wooten Elementary
  • Zavala Elementary

 

Schedule your in-school performance here

Schedule your after-school performance here

For questions or comments, click here

 

Past Seasons

Blues Influence on Rock & Roll

(School year, 2024-25)

TMP took a trip from pre-WWII to the present, showing students how the blues influenced the inception of rock & roll

  1. How Boogie Woogie and Jump Blues heavily influenced early rock & roll.
  2. We then went through the decades, showing students how rock & roll progressed through each decade while maintaining a strong blues influence.
  3. We concluded by showing students how blues and rock & roll have had a major impact on the pop and country music they are listening to today.
  4. During the performance, TMP encouraged students to clap in time and had them sing along with the song “Rocking Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Blues.”
  5. At the end, we encouraged students to try band, orchestra, or choir when they get into middle school.

 

 

History of the Blues pt. II (1945-present)

(School year, 2023-24)

TMP expanded on History of the Blues pt. I with History of the Blues pt. 2, from post WWII to the present or electric blues.  This season Texas Music Partners

  1. Showed students the difference between acoustic and electric instruments.
  2. Demonstrated what the traditional blues form sounds like.
  3. Expanded on the “Call & Response” form by analyzing the blues lyrical form.
  4. Demonstrated how the sound of the blues evolved from the late 1940s to the present.
  5. Showed how blues influenced other styles of music.
  6. Demonstrated how other styles of music influenced the blues.
  7. Had students sing along with the popular blues song “I Got My Mojo Workin’.”
  8. At the end, we encouraged students to try band, orchestra, or choir when they get into middle school.

 

 

History of the Blues, pt. I (1870-1940)

(School year, 2022-23)

This was TMP’s first full year with the Live Music in the Schools program.  We expanded our program to include in-school classes and performances, as well as after-school performances.

We took a more detailed look at the styles that made up the blues.  Then we visited the different styles of the blues, during that period, including early blues, rural blues, urban blues and boogie-woogie.  We concluded with a pop video that is based on the blues progression to show the influence of the blues in today’s music.  At the end, we encouraged students to try band, orchestra, or choir when they get into middle school.

 

 

A Brief History of the Blues

(Spring semester, 2022)

We started the Live Music in the Schools program in the spring semester of 2022, playing for elementary after-school programs.

We went on a short trip through the history of the blues from its inception to the present.  At the end, we encouraged students to try band, orchestra, or choir when they get into middle school.

 

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