According to MENC.org, music after school programs serving high-achieving music students are the most common in American public schools. These programs often include extra-curricular groups such as pep or stage band, jazz band, string quartet and other unique small ensembles. These ensembles often cannot be taught during the day due to the exclusionary nature of their small size. Also, the musical repertoire that is played by these after school programs is often of a difficult nature that would surpass the ability of a normal music student. Additionally, many public school music directors may offer private lessons for especially promising students, and may prepare them to participate in solo performance competitions.
EarCandyCharity.org states that music is a motivating activity that can keep students from falling into high-risk behavior. These type of music after school programs are especially common in inner cities. Unlike high-achieving after school programs that aim at increasing the skill of existing student musicians, at-risk music programs involve engaging students that may have never played music before in their lives. Following this idea, music directors running an at-risk music program are required to teach basic music skills and music appreciation to a large number of students. This type of program is aimed at introducing different instruments and styles of music to students to generate interest in pursuing an education in music as a healthy alternative to other behaviors.
According to AZcentral.com, some music after school programs exist due to the circumstantial constraints of the public school they are a part of. These constraints often include limited funding for music programs, finite instructional time during the school day or a limited number of instructors for the number of students in the music program. Though the circumstances for after school programs of this type may differ, some broad ideas still apply. All of these type of programs are necessary due to limited resources of a public school and seek to improve the musical abilities of their students. Foundations like MHOpus.org offer these type of after school music programs funding to repair broken instruments and supply new ones to the school as part of a grant.