Music For All is a community engagement program involving Eastman chamber music groups and local host venues around the Rochester metropolitan area. The main goal of Music For All is for various audiences and Eastman musicians to connect through a shared music experience and build meaningful relationships between the Eastman School of Music and the Rochester community.
“Our students loved last year’s visit, which featured a trombone quartet and the opportunity to engage with the music and musicians in different ways. Many returned this year asking if more musicians would be visiting. In fact, one student who had previously shown little interest in music was so inspired by that performance that he now plans to apply to the School of the Arts as a trombonist!”
— Music For All host
The seeds of Music For All (MFA) were planted back in 1985, when then Associate Director Jon Engberg proposed an “audience-building project,” which would include a new and radical undergraduate requirement: that each student would be involved in a project that intends “to initiate or foster an interest in music in an audience…which does not normally attend concerts.” Ten years later, a pilot project was officially in place, directed by Concert Manager Andy Green and Professor Kathleen Bride. Dubbed Music For All, a name suggested by Professor John Graham, the program recruited eight student volunteer chamber music groups to perform locally at a school or community site.
At the height of the program, Music for All sent over 40 chamber music groups out into the local community to perform a total of 80+ concerts for audiences ranging from preschoolers to senior citizens. Over 2,000 people were able to enjoy live music through MFA each year. For a long time, the Eastman School of Music was the only collegiate music school requiring chamber music students to participate in community performances as part of their curriculum. Other music schools and conservatories around the US and Canada were inspired by Music For All as a model for their own community engagement programs and certificates.
(Source: Eastman Notes 2004 and 2005, Timothy Ying and Elinor Freer)
Music For All Is Back! (March 24, 2025)
A Musical Education: Music For All Successfully Concludes Its Comeback Year (May 21, 2025)
