Music Box Inc. receives the National Recognition for their Music Lessons & Camps programs.

Germantown, TN – April 4, 2024 – for the fourth year in a row Germantown’s Music Box Inc. has been honored with the SupportMusic Merit Award from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education. The SupportMusic Merit Award recognizes individual schools that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students.

“Music Box is about so much more than just music lessons. We offer transformational experiences for musicians of all walks of life, regardless of their age, music preferences, instrument choice, or experience level. We offer opportunities to discover, grow and share one’s love of music, develop a life skill, find their identity and together we build our community and champion positive change. Here at Music Box, we believe in continuous improvement, and strive for excellence in our curriculum, quality of the education we provide and the music programs we design. This award means so much to all of us at Music Box!” Yelena Ovando, Executive Director.  

To qualify for the SupportMusic Merit Award, Music Box Inc. answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and community music-making programs. Responses were verified with school officials and reviewed by The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas.

Since the passage by Congress in 2015 of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and a stated emphasis on a well-rounded education, many school districts have re-committed to music and arts education programs and found that in this time of a national pandemic, provides a valuable way to keep students engaged in school. ESSA provides designated funding for well-rounded educational opportunities through Title IV Part A Student Academic Success and Achievement grants. NAMM Foundation research has revealed that these grants are being widely used by school districts to address instructional gaps in access to music and arts education.  

“Music Box [Alex] set me on the path to get the top chair in the All-West Tennessee Jazz Band twice, to get a full ride to Thornton School of Music at USC, and to have a self-sustaining career in music now. I am currently a musical director, producer, and guitarist and just played my first Coachella on the main stage. I have gone on 3 national tours, played 8 major music festivals and been on national TV twice at the age of 24. Songs I have produced have over 55 million combined streams online. I would not have gotten there without the guidance and advice of my instructor and friend, Alex Ovando.”  Derek Renfroe (Music Box graduate, guitar) 

Research into music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music: After two years of music education, researchers found that participants showed more substantial improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores than their less-involved peers and that students who are involved in music are not only more likely to graduate high school, but also to attend college as well. Everyday listening skills are stronger in musically trained children than in those without music training. Significantly, listening skills are closely tied to the ability to: perceive speech in a noisy background, pay attention, and keep sounds in memory. Later in life, individuals who took music lessons as children show stronger neural processing of sound: young adults and even older adults who have not played an instrument for up to 50 years show enhanced neural processing compared to their peers. Not to mention, social benefits include conflict resolution. 

About Music Box

Our Mission is to help aspiring musicians to become a better and more confident version of themselves. At Music Box you learn music as a language, as it can be heard, read, written and conveyed. 

About The NAMM Foundation

The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit supported in part by the National Association of Music Merchants and its approximately 10,400 members around the world. The foundation advances active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving and public service programs. For more information about The NAMM Foundation, please visit www.nammfoundation.org

Memphis Voyager interviews Yelena Ovando for the September 2021 issue. Check out the conversation about life-work balance HERE