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Eleven-year-old Shayla had never taken music classes before she emigrated from the Dominican Republic this year and enrolled at P.S. 103 Hector Fontanez in the Bronx.
The fifth grader is still hesitant to speak in English, which she said she’s learning “little by little.”
But when it comes to music, she has a different tune.
Shayla, who plays trombone in the school band, stood in front of a packed auditorium on Tuesday with her classmates to sing the song “For Good” from the musical Wicked during the school’s annual holiday concert.
“It’s incredible,” she said in Spanish about the school’s music program. “It teaches us how to have a future.” Singing in English is easier than speaking it, she added, “because singing you can repeat the words 100 times.”
After two shelters opened near the school, dozens of newly arrived immigrants, like Shayla, began enrolling at P.S. 103, at the northern edge of the Bronx, Principal Farid Reyes said. They’re part of a larger influx of an estimated 48,000 migrant students who have enrolled in city schools since summer 2022.
Schools across New York City have scrambled to accommodate the newcomers by hiring bilingual teachers and shoring up academic and language supports. P.S. 103 has leaned in part on its unusually robust music program as a source of learning, confidence, and hope for its new arrivals.
“Music has been that support system where the children that you would less expect to shine like stars have done it,” said Reyes, who immigrated to the U.S. at age 20 from Colombia.
“Music in our countries is mostly for well-to-do kids and families,” he added. “Parents [are] so happy and emotional to see the children learning something that we didn’t have the chance to learn.”
Every year, the holiday concert provides a chance for students and staff to showcase their work, and for parents to see their kids under the spotlight. This year’s performance featured wiggly elementary schoolers singing lesser-known holiday tunes about hot chocolate and hip-hop reindeer, along with an English-Spanish lullaby and classics like “My Favorite Things.”
This year’s show took on extra meaning as the school’s immigrant families grapple with fears over how long they’ll be able to remain in the school and in the country because of President-elect Donald Trump’s promised “mass deportation,” Reyes said.
“Having the opportunity to bring this moment of happiness … of seeing their children succeeding in doing something that gives them a sense of hope … for me, that’s very important,” Reyes said.
Music wasn’t always such a central feature of P.S. 103. When Reyes arrived as principal 16 years ago, the school had no dedicated music teachers, relying on academic teachers to provide extra music instruction. That’s not unusual in New York City, where the majority of public schools have no music teacher.
But Reyes was determined to change that, and he got help from Education Through Music, a nonprofit that recruits and helps place and supervise music teachers in city public schools in the hopes that schools will eventually hire them full time. P.S. 103 now has three music teachers for its roughly 800 students, allowing every student to get music instruction and for the school to support both a choir and band.
Antoine Dolberry started teaching at P.S. 103 eight years ago with Education Through Music. He was officially hired several years later and has led the music program ever since, bringing students to perform at Rockefeller Center and in an annual winter concert sponsored by YouTube.
“It’s evolved tremendously since I’ve been here,” Dolberry said. “[We’re] changing the atmosphere of the building through music.”
Dolberry said he’s taken particular joy in watching many of the school’s newcomers flourish in music class – and seeing their language acquisition take off.
“Learning how to play beat and rhythm and match tone, learning about treble clef and learning about the different letters on the staff, all of that stuff plays a part in how they learn the language,” he said. “Learning songs and lyrics plays a part in how they remember things.”
Music has also provided an opportunity for newcomers to teach their classmates and teachers about their culture and language. Dolberry made sure to include several songs with Spanish lyrics on the holiday concert set list, giving native Spanish speakers a chance to shine and correct their classmates’ pronunciation.
While teaching the lyrics to “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music, Dolberry realized he had to explain the meaning of schnitzel and strudels – opening up an opportunity for kids to talk about their own favorite foods from their home countries.
“To see them smiling every day, to see them wanting to learn the music, trying their hardest to learn the English so they can fit in,” he said, “is not only important for the teachers, but it’s also encouraging.”
Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org
