Music Boy

When PS 37 in Jamaica, Queens, was strapped for cash and could not longer afford to pay the band teacher, an unlikely candidate stood up and took the baton. An 11-year-old pianist and saxophone player, sixth-grader Paul Sheriff started conducting the school band more than a year ago. This band now plays tunes from popular artists Bob Marley, Ben E. King and Bow Wow.
"Music makes this school more alive," says Sheriff, leader of the Cynthia Jenkins School Band. "The school is better with music in it."
Budget constraints in the 600-student school forced administrators to abandon their music program. Last December, Sheriff was acting out while students were lining up in the auditorium. to keep him busy, parent coordinator Joan Estick-remembering that Sheriff played the piano-told him to play the "Pledge of Allegiance."
It soon became a morning routine. Within a few weeks, Paul looked into starting a band with his friends.
About a dozen children meet at lunch and after school to practise with a band made up of piano, drums, sax, trumpet and other instruments. The band has played at a district wide concert at nearby PS 147 and the school's multicultural festival. Next, the band plans to perform at graduation and career day.
This is wonderful but the enrollment of the school is 600 what about all the others. I understand that some of the students are very young and not ready to play a band instrument but that does not mean that they could not benefit from some music. Interesting that the article and school feel that this is a solution to the issue.