Public school music education has fallen by the wayside in the past decade. In the past five years the problem has gotten even more challenging. According to the National Education Association, five years after No Child Left Behind first became law, academic testing has further pushed music education out of the picture. Even though a growing body of evidence points to all the benefits of music education, dwindling budgets have made the prospects of keeping it in the classroom impossible. Organizers of the CMA Music Festival are working to change this.

2010 CMA Music Festival
The 2010 CMA Music Festival, will be held June 10-13 in Nashville, Tenn. Performing artists thus far include Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and Zac Brown Band.

According to festival organizers, half of the net proceeds over the past three years have gone to support Metro Nashville Public Schools through the Keep The Music Playing program. In all, more than $3 million has been raised thus far for music education in our public schools.

"It has had a tremendous impact," said Olivia Brown, Metro Nashville's communications director. "Students involved in music and arts education do better academically, they stay in school and they graduate, and research bears this out. The CMA has allowed us to provide instruments, material and resources for our music programs at a time when some of these things are outside the realm of the budget for the school district."