Many middle school and high school curriculums will include a music program. The use of music in the education program used to be considered an extra-curricular activity that earned the student no credit toward graduating. In the modern school curriculum, students are encouraged to learn a musical instrument and some will excel in the endeavor and be awarded college scholarships or an invitation to pursue a degree at a arts college.

Many school programs will include band as an elective course when students enter the fifth grade. The students will be given the option of choosing a musical instrument and if that instrument is in short supply, it will be the responsibility of the parent to buy a new or used one for the child. The sheet music for all school band programs is supplied free of charge, but students that take private instruction will have many workbooks to buy during the course of the training involved.

The progress made in learning to play a musical instrument will be derived from the amount of time that the student devotes to practice. Since the music classes at school are only scheduled to be an hour long, the student must often take the various sheets of music home and continue to practice in an area where there is certain to be no interruptions. The school's band director time will be spread thin among many students throughout the day. Individual instruction is often not possible after school hours.

A bandleader might prefer to educate band members in small groups that center around the musical instrument category. Some afternoons can be marked for string instrument players and the music sheets for only those students will be available. All other students wishing extra instruction will have to make arrangements to stay late on the day scheduled for another instrument type. With five days in a school week, the percussion section, woodwinds, brass and strings all have days open for special instruction.

A child can use other methods to spur the learning curve along a bit, and many parents are willing to rent or buy music scores and music playing devices so that the child's learning can progress at a faster rate. The public libraries are a great place for educating children on all manners of musical instrument. Children that learn two instruments at once end up being well-rounded people when they become adults. A child can be educated in music history just by listening to music created by musical composers such a Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Johann Sebastian Bach.

Parents can help in educating with musical instruments by exposing their children to musical styles such as jazz and taking children to areas where this music style is famous such as New Orleans, Louisiana. The opportunities for educating children with musical instruments and the sound of music are endless. A child might show an interest in music long before they ever reach school age and parents must grab hold of that education opportunity because there is no ceiling on where it might lead.