Freshman year, Abril couldn't speak up in class—let alone sing on stage. Even answering a question felt impossible. "I could barely speak above a whisper," she remembers. After one particularly difficult performance, she came off stage in tears, paralyzed by fear and self-doubt.
But she didn’t give up.
By sophomore year, Abril joined her school’s modern band program through Music Will. She picked up a bass guitar—something she had never played before—and tried singing while playing at the same time. “I was frozen,” she recalls. “I couldn’t move. Couldn’t play. I felt like a failure.”
Still, she kept coming back.
By senior year, everything changed. “Now I get on stage like it’s nothing,” Abril says with a smile. “Even if I mess up a note, who's going to notice?”
Her transformation didn’t just happen on stage. Music helped Abril grow more confident in every part of her life. She raises her hand in class now. She does group presentations. She even compliments strangers out in public—something that once felt unthinkable. “Because of music, I learned to love myself.”
Abril’s story is deeply personal—but it’s also a reflection of something bigger.
Self-confidence is plummeting for today’s students. A national survey found that only 55% of adolescent girls now report feeling confident—a sharp decline from 68% in 2017 (EdWeek Research Center, 2023).
That’s why Music Will exists: to change the story.
We bring inclusive, student-centered music education to over a million kids every year so that students like Abril don’t just learn music—they learn about themselves. They find their voice. They build confidence, resilience, and joy in a space where they’re free to be who they are.
Music gave Abril a space to try, to fail, and to be seen—not for her perfection, but for her persistence. It became the place where she learned to take up space, to speak out loud, to say, “I belong here.”
This is what happens when young people are given the chance to create—not just consume—music. When they’re trusted with real instruments, real choices, and real self-expression. They don’t just learn to play songs. They learn to rewrite the narrative about who they are and what they’re capable of.
Abril found that kind of power in a bass guitar and a modern band that welcomed her exactly as she was.
Now imagine a world where every student has that chance—to learn about themselves, and to learn to love themselves.
Want to help more students like Abril discover and love themselves through music? Learn how Music Will is transforming classrooms and how you can be part of it by visiting our It Starts with Music page.
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