Young Musicians Unite brings free music education to more than 20,000 Miami students

Young Musicians Unite is providing free music education to more than 20,000 students each week across Miami, using the classroom to teach not only instruments but also confidence, teamwork and leadership.

The nonprofit says its in-school and afterschool programs are offered at no cost to students and now reach 131 schools across Miami-Dade.

At Little River K-8, 9-year-old Jayden Morisseau is already seeing where those opportunities could take him.

Morisseau, a fourth grader, has been playing the trumpet for two years and is working toward taking on a leadership role in his school band.

"To step up my game, to be a drum major, a section leader," Morisseau said.

But for Morisseau, the band is about more than learning how to play an instrument. It has also given him a community.

"I love Mr. V. I like everybody here. They are so helpful," Morisseau said.

"Mr. V" is Reinaldo Velez, the band director and a Young Musicians Unite music teacher who knows the program from both sides of the music stand. Velez was once a YMU student himself and is now helping teach a new generation of young musicians.

"It brings some unity to everybody here as well," Velez said. "Personality skills, there's a lot of traits that can be learned along the way. How to fix an instrument, how to be able to help somebody when they're in need."

Young Musicians Unite founder and CEO Sammy Gonzalez Zeira said his own experience with free music education inspired him to create similar opportunities for other children.

Gonzalez Zeira, a musician who was born and raised in Miami, credits music education with helping him find his voice growing up.

"For me, the biggest calling was how do I make sure that the same opportunities I had growing up, we can continue to pay that forward and make sure that other children have the same opportunity," Gonzalez Zeira said.

The organization sees music as a way to give students another reason to engage with school while helping them develop skills that extend beyond the classroom.

"Kids need a reason to show up to school, and kids need an opportunity to be seen," Gonzalez Zeira said. "And when they're part of a music classroom, they're part of something bigger than themselves."

For Morisseau, that means opportunities to improve as a musician while learning from the people around him.

"You get a lot of opportunities to go places, and you get better at playing your horns, and also, you got a good teacher that knows a lot of music," Morisseau said.

Young Musicians Unite says all of its programming is free for students.