Five Weeks of Auditory Delights: AHA Hosts Music in Our Schools Month®

 March is charmed at the Academy of the Holy Angels, where vocal and instrumental performers remind everyone it’s Music Our Schools Month®. Tri-M Honor Society President Faith Youn took the reins this year, organizing five weeks of MIOSM® performances at the start of the school day and during lunch.

“I could not have done all the organizing without my executive board members,” Youn acknowledged. “Olivia Papp managed the attendance for all the performances, Isabella Wisniewski oversaw participation of our Tri-M members, and Annalise Olsen recorded all the performances, posted MIOSM related posts on the Tri-M Instagram, and created posters that were hung around our school.”

Youn also expressed her gratitude for the assistance provided by AHA Performing Arts Director/Tri-M Moderator Dan Mahoney and AHA Orchestra Director Andrew Monticello.

“Many of the MIOSM® performers are not members of Tri-M,” Youn pointed out. “The mission of MIOSM® is to promote the importance of quality music education, so Tri-M wanted many AHA members to participate! We had two pianos set up around AHA that were free for anyone to use. The stand-up piano in the student commons was a popular location for many pop-up performances, as many novice and experienced pianists would play it during their free periods and before and after school.”

She added, “I always used music as a way to connect with others and express my emotions. I think music is fascinating in that it is so multidimensional both in terms of style and use. Music constantly makes me think and there’s always more to learn. It’s really taught me to embrace a growth mindset.”

MIOSM® is promoted by the National Association for Music Education and highlights the importance of a high-quality music education. Now an annual event, Music in Our Schools Month® was launched on March 14, 1973 under the sponsorship of the New York State School Music Association. A dozen years later, the celebration had become a month-long observance.

Founded by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1879, the Academy of the Holy Angels is the oldest private girls’ school in Bergen County. While AHA is steeped in Catholic tradition, this prestigious school serves young women from many cultural and religious backgrounds. The Academy’s current leaders continue to further the SSND mission to provide each student with the tools she needs to reach the fullness of her potential—spiritually, intellectually, socially, and physically, by offering a first-rate education in a nurturing environment where equal importance is placed on academic excellence, character development, moral integrity, and service to others.