The Harmony Project is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles, California, that provides free music instruction and instruments to youth in underserved communities in LA and around the country.
[2] Harmony Project was founded by Dr. Margaret Martin in April 2001 as a public health intervention to: It has many different teaching sites all over the Los Angeles area.
Harmony Project partnered with LAUSD's Beyond the Bell program in 2009 and in the fall of that year launched the Hip Hop Orchestra, a string ensemble that performs contemporary popular music under the direction of composer and conductor Diane Louie.
[2] Inspired by the positive academic performance of Harmony Project students, in 2011 the program collaborated with Northwestern University's Auditory Neuroscience Lab (aka Kraus Lab; www.brainvolts.northwestern.edu) in prospective randomized controlled research involving elementary-age Harmony Project students to explore the impact of intensive music training (5+ hours per week) on the developing brains, cognition, behavior and academic performance of Harmony students (all from low-income homes) relative to controls.
Students in Harmony Project's Class of 2016 who participated in the program at least three years experienced an average length of participation of 7 years; 98% will attend college in fall 2016; most are first-generation college students; 50% have been accepted into high value STEM majors.