Music Workshop

As a radio station, we can’t help but agree with the folks at Music Workshop – the world is a better place with music in it.

Music Workshop is the brainchild of Amy Richter, who created the program to counteract Beaverton School District’s lack of musical programming. As a parent and a firm believer in the developmental power of music, Richter was disappointed to see music curriculum being slashed over the years. So in 2013, she founded Music Workshop as an in-school, low-cost alternative.

The nonprofit offers schools a free, professional-grade documentary series along with a straightforward music curriculum. With its simple format and reliance on videos, the program can be taught by anyone from volunteers to teachers – which saves cost and time. Students get exposed to everything from the big band era to the origin of the guitar. It’s a diverse and playful program, which Music Workshop hopes inspires in children an appreciation for music.

Richter and the team behind Music Workshop can provide the curriculum for free, since the roughly $20,000 cost per video has so far been covered by donations. It’s the hope of the nonprofit that their program will only supplement – not replace – a full music curriculum. Yet in the meantime, it’s doing its work of connecting kids to the world of music.

Interested in getting your school to adopt this program? Apply here.

This week at Portland Radio Project we featured Music Workshop as part of our award-winning Community Voices series. You can listen below to interviews with key members of the organization: