[ORCHESTRA TUNING] [MINA] Music is... fundamentally just a language of passion.

So it helps bring people together no matter what their background is or who they are to just enjoy something that they all can love together.

[ORCHESTRA MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] [CHOIR SINGING] ♪ And I hear the voice ♪ ♪ Of many angels sing ♪ ♪♪ Worthy is the lamb ♪ [LAUGHTER] [SKYLER] I feel like music actually saves a lot of people.

It really helps me balance all my other subjects.

It makes me feel motivated to go to school.

I look forward to my classes and I get to be myself.

[CHATTER] [BELLA] When you're in school, it becomes boring.

It becomes a task.

You just have to study and study and study.

Your parents are on you, you know, there are so many expectations and you kind of forget what you're doing because the only thing that matters at the end of the day is that grade.

[MUSIC] [BELLA] With music, our musical instructor believes in us.

It really helped me see the light in other classes, and it helped me keep going because I wanted to believe that other teachers believed in me too.

[MUSIC] [KELLY] Can you do a quarter note first?

Because what's happening is, you're both doing your quarter note at the same time and I like it better you and Kai are opposite.

Does that make sense?

Okay.

Right, let's test our tempo.

[MUSIC] [KELLY] I just recently saw a study from British Columbia where they took over 100,000 students who were in high school orchestras and bands and correlated whether they were in orchestra or band, in a music ensemble with their test scores.

And they controlled that for even their socioeconomic background, their gender, their race... and they found that the students who were in music were scoring a whole grad level higher than their peers.

[MUSIC] [AMANDA] Good, stop there.

Same thing there, okay?

Good!

Not bad, everyone.

So Mina, just in general so for this piece especially... [MINA] There are a lot of parts of music where you have to make, like, logical assumptions based on what you've learned in the past to continue learning new things.

[AMANDA] Maybe let's go over Surface Pressure?

Seventy one will be fine.

[MINA] So learning music is a lot like learning a new language.

So while we're still, like, letting our brain rest from what we normally learn, we're still learning more at the same time which I think is really great.

[AMANDA This is gonna be a great concert I'm so excited for you guys.

[AMANDA] Some of my students come to me and they'll say, 'Miss I did a on my math test today', right?

Because they don't realize it but they're infusing a lot of ma into what we do on a day to day basis.

Hello, welcome to school everybody.

[DANTE] I find that music teaches me a lot of different skills that you wouldn't think would be able to apply in different classes, like pattern recognition... [DRUM BEAT] building teamwork... [AMANDA] Barisax, trombone... and then rhythm section.

in your science classes, you get to learn things about frequencies and, like, waves.

[MUSIC] [KELLY] And, you know, as music teachers were like, 'Yes, of course!'

'Of course it helps them academically.'

I just think music involves so many different elements of learning.

I mean, you have to draw on mathematical things, but also physical coordination.. [MUSIC] the emotional expression side of performing... [SINGING] and the ability to do it all in real time with other people following a conductor, just, you're doing so many things in your mind, in your body that you don't even realize you're doing.

[CHOIR SINGING] [YOOKY] So it challenges your brain to think all these different areas of many different subjects, in a way, and put it all together as music.

[ALFREDO] Okay, ready?

Ladies and tenors.

[SINGING] ♪ It's time to... ♪ [SINGING] ♪ It's time to... ♪ [SINGING] ♪ It's time to... ♪ Ready?

Three, four, one!

[CHOIR SINGING ♪ It's time to try defying gravi ♪ I think I'll try defying gravi ♪ And you can't pull me down.

♪ [ALFREDO] Okay, but before we move on to bass... [ALFREDO Music does make a big difference in our educational system.

Music resets everything.

It helps students function in a way that some of us can't understand can't explain.

[KALANI] High school and even in middle school is a time where students are trying to figure out who they are, trying to figure out their inte what they love, what they don't And it can be a time that can be lonely for a lot of people.

[CHOIR SINGING] ♪ There can be miracles ♪ ♪ when you believe ♪ [KALANI] At our last concert, a dad came up to me and thanked me because he said his son was never involve in any extracurricular activitie all throughout high school, except for his senior year when he decided to join my honor choir.

And from that, he was able to find this group of friends that really just wholly accept him.

And I think that's super important for well, for any age, but more specifically like, for high school and for middle school.

[CHOIR SINGING ♪ You will when you believe.

♪ [KELLY I can think of several instances of students like that that I've taught in the past, and... and especially just the community.

You know, when you're with people who can encourage you and help you through those times and you're not just isolating.

I think that's a huge help to them when they're surrounded by that community that's formed through music.

[CHOIR SINGING] ♪ You'll be back ♪ [LISA] Some of them, even early morning, they come in at 7:15 before school to do those rehearsals and there's something about tha that just kind of binds you toge And going through concerts toget sometimes there's travel involved or different - performing in the community, those kinds of things, and that really bonds the students to each other going through those experiences.

[CHOIR CINGING ♪ Whoa...time to take a shot ♪ ♪ Time to take a shot ♪ ♪ I am not throwing away my ♪ ♪ Not throwing away my shot!

♪ [CHATTER AND APPLAUSE] [KALANI] Good job, everybody!

Bye!

Thank you everybody!

Have a good day!

See you on Thursday!

[ANDREW] I think that's why it's such an important subject, why it's such an important experience for kids to have.

[ALFREDO] Sometimes music i the only thing that student has and with music, it's enoug to strengthen one's individual's decision in the future.

[YOOKY] In their childhood years, they need to have that music education for them to widen their spectrum so that they can achieve what they are able to.

But when they don't have that in the earlier years, it kind of fixes them to be very limited in their spectrum.

And so no matter how much they try for the rest of the years in their life, they're kind of stuck there.

[ELEAHNA] Music opens up your mind.

I'm the confident person you see right now, right before you because of choir.

[CHOIR SINGING] [ELEAHNA] And it was because of that, that it allowed me to see other opportunities and decide to give it a try.

[ANDREW] I'm a firm believer that element kids and middle school kids should be in some sort of music class.

It's a huge part in learning abo your emotions and learning about creativity and experimentation with sound and art.

[CHILDREN SINGING] ♪ So farewell to you ♪ ♪ I will bid you adieu ♪ ♪ 'Til we meet again ♪ ♪ Someday, my friend ♪ ♪ On the island of Guam.

♪ [CAROLINE] So, I teach little people.

And so I think there's a lot of times where we're learning to work together as a group.

And when you're young like that as a developmental thing, they often, kids often play by themselves at first and then they're starting to lea 'Oh, there's other people!'

'Oh, we have to share!'

'Oh, we have to work together!'

[MUSIC] [CAROLINE] Yeah, so specifically with the younger ones, it's like, we're introducing and working on.

[ANDREW] Now, depending on what music class they're in, if a kid is going into like, a rehearsal type class, like band or orchestra or choir, you have all kinds o discipline that's getting taught and being enforced.

Like, you can't perform well as a group if you're not carrying your weight.

[MUSIC] [MAX] Music and teamwork are synonymous in my mind from a military perspective.

And having directed a military band, that was our mission.

[MUSIC CRESCENDO] [MAX] Our mission was to epitomize teamwork, both visually and sonically.

[DAPHNE] Being a part of this group has taught me so much patience, and it has taught me to be more considerate of others.

[SKYLER] And that's what music does.

You don't want to just be one sided.

Music can never be one sided.

There's always two different meanings.

There's multiple meanings to one song.

[MINA] And if we don't listen to each other, some people will be too loud to hear the others.

It's all about balancing each other's sound out so that we can work together to become one sound together.

[AMANDA] Seeing their efforts as a group too, is what matters, because you can't put one job all on one person.

[XANDER] People aren't judging you as much as you think a lot of the time, because sometimes I make a lot of mistakes in these groups, and I think I'm thinking all of these guys are mad at me or something, but after rehearsals they're like, completely normal with me and like, they're not mad at all So it helped me realize it's not as bad to make mistakes as you think it is.

[MUSIC] [LISA] So many of them make such good friends and lifelong friends when they're in these music groups.

[ELEAHNA] We're just a bunch of kids who love singing, and I really love and appreciate like, all the kindness and all the energy that choir brings to us.

[XANDER] And I would say that these music groups are kind of like my second family here on Guam.

[JIANGRONG] And it really has helped me in the long run.

I've met a few professors in the States already for college and stuff, musicians that has helped me improve.

[DANTE] I just think it's a wonderful setting to be in...hearing all different perspectives of all different people, all joined by one thing and that's the thing we love...music.

[AMANDA] It's incorporating culture and diversity across all different subject matters within music.

[SKYLER] We're so different, yet we're so similar at the same time.

Our passion for music is so, so strong.

And that's a bond that I think is really special with othe students in the music program.

[ALFREDO] To me, music is our hope in everything we do in life.

Stress, sadness, happiness... music is everywhere.

[MAX] Music is essential to us being human.

We're developing things that are intangible.

We're developing experiences, and then it's har for some people to quantify it.

And I know if we just all take a step back an entire society can also sa that it's important to them too.

[MUSIC] [SCHOOL BELL RINGS] [AMANDA] Goodbye!

Bye, everyone!

[YOOKY] We're done!

That's a wrap!

[laughs] Cut!