Save The Music's Henry Donahue on Music Education (Episode 153)

The gig is never only the gig.

Somewhere right now, a ten-year-old is about to hear a band for the first time and have their mind blown. In Episode 153 of The Career Musician, Nomad talks with Henry Donahue, executive director of Save The Music, about why music education matters, how it supports mental health, and how working musicians can become champions for the next generation.

Save The Music partners with public school districts to restart music programs. Per the show notes, since its founding in 1997 it has provided instruments, equipment and technology to more than 2,000 schools in almost 300 districts. Henry came to it from Purpose, a social impact agency, after years as a political fundraiser who also played guitar in an indie rock band and ran a small label. He wanted to be a career musician too.

Why music in schools still needs champions

Henry doesn't think he needs to convince anyone listening that making music is good. But the need is urgent. He estimates about 5 million students in roughly 15,000 public schools have had music cut, downsized, or never had it at all, often in communities facing economic challenges.

When a school agrees to budget for a music teacher during the school day, Save The Music brings what the program needs: instruments, books, stands, and more and more technology like digital audio workstations, synths and MIDI controllers, plus support for the teacher. The bar is high on purpose. The district must hire a teacher, schedule real class time, give music a dedicated room and commit for at least ten years. No "art on a cart."

Start advocacy with your own story

How do you convince a school board? Henry starts with personal experience. He was a hyperactive ten-year-old who got in fights and wasn't connected to school. Then a duo from the middle school band, one on trumpet and one on drums, came to his Maryland elementary school and played "Rock Around the Clock." From that day on, music was what he wanted to do: trumpet, guitar, musical theater, show choir, every musical thing he could find. It gave him a peer group and a reason to come to school.

Then he brings the research. He points to a 2019 University of Chicago review of more than 200 studies showing that music lets students engage with peers, teachers and their experiences in a fundamentally different way. He adds that schools with active music making see better attendance and graduation, especially for at-risk students.

"My pitch isn't about creating amazing musicians. If that's a byproduct, that's awesome. It's about creating successful people who have the skills to navigate the world."

Henry Donahue, 11:58

He shares a line from a Mississippi band director he met on a panel: don't practice for the performance or the halftime show. You are practicing for life. Listening to your ensemble, showing up on time, being prepared with everything ready. Nomad couldn't agree more. That is reliability beats virtuosity, learned in a school band room.

Meet the community where it is

Save The Music started at VH1 (many people remember it from the VH1 Divas era), and Henry says it now runs as its own nonprofit with only a small slice of its budget from MTV and VH1. One big change behind its growth: no fixed agenda about what music a community should make. Rolling into New Orleans and telling people about music, he jokes, would be pretty dumb.

Listening has taken the programs in new directions. Band and strings are still core, but elementary programs with recorders, ukuleles, world percussion and Orff instruments have grown, along with mariachi in places like LA and beat making, producing, DJing and songwriting in high schools. He mentions a Newark, New Jersey high school where about 1,100 of roughly 1,600 students signed up for music tech.

That high school program is named for J Dilla. Henry tells how advisors told them the program needed a "patron saint," and the only choice was Dilla. They reached out to his mother, Ma Dukes, and by the end of the first meeting everyone in the room was in tears.

Positive mental attitude, from DC punk

Henry grew up in the DC suburbs in the 80s, the center of the punk rock world. He saw Fugazi's first show and Bad Brains. What stuck with him was the combination: music that rocked hard, a positive message, and integrity in how you operate.

"The message of Bad Brains is PMA, positive mental attitude, and operate in the music business with integrity."

Henry Donahue, 34:41

All-ages shows, doing it yourself, standing for something. His band even had Ian MacKaye and Dischord distribute its first single. That ethic still shapes Save The Music. One of its culture code values is students first: when an artist visits a school, it has to be a worthwhile experience for the students, not just content for the artist's socials.

Nomad adds his own view of the career side. It starts with a decision: pursue your artistry, or back up other artists. He chose to be the backing guy. You can subsidize your art by attaching your talent to people who have already scaled their business.

How musicians can get involved

Henry's advice: don't start your own nonprofit. There are already plenty doing great work, likely one near you. He names a few:

Guitars for Vets, which runs guitar and songwriting programs for veterans at VA hospitals and needs volunteer teachers. Jail Guitar Doors, started by Billy Bragg and Wayne Kramer of the MC5, which brings music making to incarcerated people and young people diverted from the justice system. For young adults just out of school, he points to Music Forward and Notes for Notes.

On mental health itself, Henry is careful: music is a powerful tool, but not a substitute for talking to a professional. Nomad shares that he has a therapist he loves. The most important thing, they agree, is to talk to somebody. And music classrooms are becoming a place to bring in mindfulness and breathing work, because a creative room is open in a way a conference room isn't.

Henry's final ask: we need career musicians to be champions and advocates for young people coming up. His hashtag says it all: music saves. That is Humility from ETHOS in action, and a reminder that work begets work in more ways than one.

The takeaway

Remember the moment music grabbed you, then help someone else have theirs. Volunteer, teach, advocate, and show up for your local scene. And keep building your own career with the free Get the Gig guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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