All ABOUT MUSIC IS FIRST!

Music Is First! creates equity and access to music education for all young children in San Francisco by integrating standards aligned music programs into elementary schools which has shown to greatly enhance language acquisition (especially second language acquisition), cognitive development, physical coordination, social-emotional well being, and acts as a vehicle for families to create music together.

Music Is First! provides research based in-school music and literacy residencies, and provides and assembly program as well as professional development and music curriculum to schools. Music Is First! also provides free on-demand resources for teachers and families through their website.

Established in 2019, Music Is First! has worked with arts partners including The Healdsburg Jazz Festival, Patchwork Films, and Living Jazz. Music Is First! has partnered 75 classrooms throughout San Francisco Unified, Jefferson School District, and Oakland Unified, serving over 3,000 students.

Meet The Admin Team:

Ami Molinelli - Co Executive Director & Teaching Artist

Ami Molinelli is a professional percussionist and educator specializing in Brazilian and Latin percussion. Her percussion curriculum has been used and published in clinics and education workshops including the Los Angeles Philharmonic,The San Francisco Jazz Center, Los Angeles Music Center, Music in Schools Today, Young Audiences of Northern California, UFBA Ouro Preto, Brasil,  HeadStart (San Mateo County), Los Angeles Music Academy, California Brazil Camp, Jazz Camp West, etc.  Her curriculum, “Recycled Rhythm” was created for her artist residency of 7 years at the Los Angeles Music Center.  Currently Ami is a music integration and curriculum specialist with organizations such as The San Francisco Jazz Center, Living Jazz and San Francisco Unified School District. Learn more HERE.

Alyson Swihart - Co Executive Director & Tech Support

Alyson Swihart is an educator who holds a MA in Curriculum and Instruction and an Administrative Tier One Credential. During her 8 years in Oakland Unified, and seeing the affects music integration had on student learning, Alyson dedicated herself to studying the impact of music and other academic areas. For 10 years, she was the Curriculum Specialist and Education Director at Music In Schools Today designing and implementing music integrated programming in Oakland Unified (OUSD) and San Francisco Unified School Districts in partnership with the Music in Education National Consortium (MIENC). During this time, she became one of the founding teachers and program managers for the Music Integrated Literacy Enhancement Program (MILE), a collaboration between OUSD and MIENC.