Musical Lives is a community program that aims to provide high quality musical experiences for children while developing a commitment to working in underserved communities among Butler School undergraduate and graduate students. 

Initiated by the Butler School of Music as an outreach program for children at UT Elementary School, a charter school in East Austin, it directly provides access to instrumental music in areas of the community where instruction is limited by economic constraints.

Musical Lives also creates an environment to train the education leaders of tomorrow. By utilizing the well-established effectiveness of the Butler School’s String Project—a  teacher development program—it serves as a living laboratory in which undergraduate and graduate students can refine their pedagogical skills as they experience the rewards in helping young children achieve meaningful goals.

In the fall of 2014, the program’s inaugural session began with the aspiration that it will expand to include children from a wider range of neighborhoods in Austin and the surrounding area.