Trenton Community Music School, located in Trenton New Jersey, has been inspiring local children to learn and make music together since 1998. The school currently teaches about 3000 children and families and with each year this number is growing.
In 1998, the school’s founder, Marcia Wood, searched for ways to bring music into the lives of Trenton children.
Within ten years, Wood had built a local music school that was teaching piano, violin, cello, saxophone, drums, voice, clarinet, electric bass, guitar, viola, and flute. Children of the school began performing recitals in school and around the community.
But, for these students their music education turned into so much more than just learning how to play an instrument.

The school has a wide variety of music programs. But just last February, the Trenton Community Music School created a relationship with the Trenton Board of Education, forming its organization El Sistema-Trenton.
According to string instructor at Grant Elementary School, Barrington Brown, the El Sistema-Trenton program is a social after school orchestra at Grant Elementary School. “The program has been all around the country and the United States, and all around the world to bring music to different areas, but it is new to Trenton” Brown said.
After 16 years of teaching general music at Grant Elementary school, Brown became the string instructor put in charge of teaching the cello, violin, and viola to children from grades three to five. He has also recently got involved with the El Sistema- Trenton program. “For the past two years, it has been a great pleasure teaching these kids,” said Brown.
Brown said he has always loved his job but becoming the string instructor has been very exciting for him.
At Grant Elementary School, one of the many Trenton public schools that the Trenton Community Music School has formed partnership with over the years, children have learned to grow upon their music education and learn to become leaders in their community.
According to Brown, “students that are apart of the program become more confident, more social, and more willing to present themselves in front of others.”
The students have become stronger leaders overall. Brown said when he gives his students practice time, they will break off into little groups and he can see where the leaders develop. Before students had a difficult time taking on leadership roles but since their musical involvement, they have really come out of their shells.
“They are developing into their character based off their desire to play music,” Brown said. According to Brown, it is very exciting to see the correlation between the child’s growth and development and their musical skills.
According to TCMS’s website April Reid, Fourth Grade Teacher at Grant Elementary said, “the impact the music program is having on our students is immeasurable!”

It is not just Brown who has had an extreme influence on his students, there are many music teachers that inspire their students.
Not only does music education increase students confidence and leadership skills, but student’s music education is also reflected in the classroom. Because Brown pulls students out of class throughout the day to give them music lessons, students are more encouraged to go to class because missing school means missing music practice. “You see their overall grades go up and their attendance improve because they don't want to miss out on class,” said Brown.
The Trenton Community Music School goes behind just teaching music education. The school is always looking for ways to help the city of Trenton flourish, as well as attempt to embrace opportunities in surrounding communities.
The school has learned that they create the greatest impact on students of all ages when they work with groups. These groups include string orchestras, preschool classes, and circles of parents and children.
“When children pick up musical instruments and play together, they develop awareness, confidence, connectivity, expressiveness, and an open mind,” reads the community school’s website.
The Trenton Community Music School has been providing affordable, high-quality music instruction to children in the Trenton Community for the past 17 years.
The Trenton Community Music School has recently teamed up with Trenton public schools to make music education accessible to any student.
Brown said, “the biggest thing I know is that (The Trenton Community Music School) just wants to continue making music in Trenton.”