Music Helps
October 23, 2025
Bernie Marvin
Newbury, VT - Newbury Elementary School music teacher has recently received a $1,500 grant that will enable her to establish a student band at Newbury Elementary School (NES).
Music Teacher Roxanna Zampieri had earlier applied for and received the grant from a local music education organization, Music Helps. In an interview with The Bridge Weekly, Music Helps board President Eliza Goodell noted that e overall aim of Music Helps is to facilitate the organization and distribution of private lesson scholarships, instrument rentals and loans, and school workshops, masterclasses, and performances, in an effort to increase access to musical education for all.
She said the group also aims to bring affordable, engaging musical performances to rural communities and provide spaces for music students to gain experience performing. The group is involved in everything from fundraising to organizing concerts and coordinating2ogramming with schoolteachers and administrators.
For the students of NES, Music Helps is enabling access to music education and exploration that otherwise would not have been possible. According to Music Helps Board member Rowe Williams, all other Orange East Superintendency Unit (OESU) schools have music programs, and this boost gives Newbury Elementary School students the same opportunities as other students in the district to play music on an instrument of their choice.
Williams noted that Zampieri, who also teaches band music at Blue Mountain School (BMU), has already ordered instrument rentals for the program and presently has 40 students signed up. They had hoped to march in the early October Groton Fall Foliage Parade but had managed to squeeze in only one practice lesson prior to the parade stepping off.
Zampieri recently reported to The Bridge Weekly for this story that the Music Helps Scholarship program enables Newbury Elementary School students to receive an equitable music education in the OESU.
She said that students are now eligible to begin guitar/strings at Grade 2 at NES, and all other band students start in Grade 3. There are 49 students registered in Grades 2-6. Students receive a free instrument rental, along with a free weekly lesson and a monthly band class.
With this being offered to them when they leave NES for a middle school program within the OESU or in any other school, they will have the option of joining the band. If they did not have the prior education and offerings at NES, they would not have the chance, she said.
She said that music "is something that is a skill for life." Music supports reading through phrasing, note recognition/reading, and vocabulary. t supports math through counting, beat keeping, rhythmic reading, fractions, and more. Studying an instrument also supports proper health through correct posture, breathing, and cleaning, as well as learning how the instrument produces sound, understanding sound vibrations, and recognizing sound levels. This connection to science is a valuable aspect of the experience. If you add marching, it can be cardio and build stamina, she said, adding that `am also excited about what this will bring to the community.
Music Helps has indeed helped to give the gift of music to all NES students enrolled in the program.
She said she has worked with Music Helps in scheduling master classes with musician and teacher Patrick Ross when she was at SAU 23 for Grades 4-12. Patrick also team-taught his piece, "Raise Your Flag," with the students and performed with them in their spring concert.
One of the students, whom she referred to for private lessons and studies with Patrick Ross from Woodsville High School, received a lesson scholarship from Music Helps and is now majoring in music at Plymouth State University. (e organization is wonderful, Zampieri said.
"Music Helps," Goodell described "began in 2022 and was brought together over a shared appreciation for music and music education. Everyone who continues to be on the board and who has joined the board has been positively impacted by access to music education and is passionate about increasing accessibility to the arts in our rural communities."
In addition to Goodell and Williams, the Music Helps board is comprised of Susan Goodell, Paul Sachs, David Carlson, and Don Sinclair. All Upper Valley locals, the board knows firsthand the critical support that was needed to foster their own musical education. Now they aim to ensure everyone has that same support.
Goodell also stated that while most of the operatingïsts are funded through individual donations, the group raises funds through benefit concerts, often in collaboration with local businesses. å are super grateful to have businesses in our area who support our mission,3he said.
Music Helps is always seeking interested schools to bring in musicians for performances, masterclasses, and workshops. Eliza added that å are working on a collaborationéth both Bradford Elementary and Newbury Elementary now and have worked with Haverhill Middle and Woodsville High School, Oxbow High School, and Newbury Elementary School before.J
According to the Music Helps website, private lesson scholarship applications are open for music teachers to apply on behalf of students with financial needs. Other educators may also reach out or submit applications for school collaborations of community programming. Music Helps support is available for any genre of music and any instrument.
For more information and to support their mission, please visit www.musichelps.us.
Music Teacher Roxanna Zampieri had earlier applied for and received the grant from a local music education organization, Music Helps. In an interview with The Bridge Weekly, Music Helps board President Eliza Goodell noted that e overall aim of Music Helps is to facilitate the organization and distribution of private lesson scholarships, instrument rentals and loans, and school workshops, masterclasses, and performances, in an effort to increase access to musical education for all.
She said the group also aims to bring affordable, engaging musical performances to rural communities and provide spaces for music students to gain experience performing. The group is involved in everything from fundraising to organizing concerts and coordinating2ogramming with schoolteachers and administrators.
For the students of NES, Music Helps is enabling access to music education and exploration that otherwise would not have been possible. According to Music Helps Board member Rowe Williams, all other Orange East Superintendency Unit (OESU) schools have music programs, and this boost gives Newbury Elementary School students the same opportunities as other students in the district to play music on an instrument of their choice.
Williams noted that Zampieri, who also teaches band music at Blue Mountain School (BMU), has already ordered instrument rentals for the program and presently has 40 students signed up. They had hoped to march in the early October Groton Fall Foliage Parade but had managed to squeeze in only one practice lesson prior to the parade stepping off.
Zampieri recently reported to The Bridge Weekly for this story that the Music Helps Scholarship program enables Newbury Elementary School students to receive an equitable music education in the OESU.
She said that students are now eligible to begin guitar/strings at Grade 2 at NES, and all other band students start in Grade 3. There are 49 students registered in Grades 2-6. Students receive a free instrument rental, along with a free weekly lesson and a monthly band class.
With this being offered to them when they leave NES for a middle school program within the OESU or in any other school, they will have the option of joining the band. If they did not have the prior education and offerings at NES, they would not have the chance, she said.
She said that music "is something that is a skill for life." Music supports reading through phrasing, note recognition/reading, and vocabulary. t supports math through counting, beat keeping, rhythmic reading, fractions, and more. Studying an instrument also supports proper health through correct posture, breathing, and cleaning, as well as learning how the instrument produces sound, understanding sound vibrations, and recognizing sound levels. This connection to science is a valuable aspect of the experience. If you add marching, it can be cardio and build stamina, she said, adding that `am also excited about what this will bring to the community.
Music Helps has indeed helped to give the gift of music to all NES students enrolled in the program.
She said she has worked with Music Helps in scheduling master classes with musician and teacher Patrick Ross when she was at SAU 23 for Grades 4-12. Patrick also team-taught his piece, "Raise Your Flag," with the students and performed with them in their spring concert.
One of the students, whom she referred to for private lessons and studies with Patrick Ross from Woodsville High School, received a lesson scholarship from Music Helps and is now majoring in music at Plymouth State University. (e organization is wonderful, Zampieri said.
"Music Helps," Goodell described "began in 2022 and was brought together over a shared appreciation for music and music education. Everyone who continues to be on the board and who has joined the board has been positively impacted by access to music education and is passionate about increasing accessibility to the arts in our rural communities."
In addition to Goodell and Williams, the Music Helps board is comprised of Susan Goodell, Paul Sachs, David Carlson, and Don Sinclair. All Upper Valley locals, the board knows firsthand the critical support that was needed to foster their own musical education. Now they aim to ensure everyone has that same support.
Goodell also stated that while most of the operatingïsts are funded through individual donations, the group raises funds through benefit concerts, often in collaboration with local businesses. å are super grateful to have businesses in our area who support our mission,3he said.
Music Helps is always seeking interested schools to bring in musicians for performances, masterclasses, and workshops. Eliza added that å are working on a collaborationéth both Bradford Elementary and Newbury Elementary now and have worked with Haverhill Middle and Woodsville High School, Oxbow High School, and Newbury Elementary School before.J
According to the Music Helps website, private lesson scholarship applications are open for music teachers to apply on behalf of students with financial needs. Other educators may also reach out or submit applications for school collaborations of community programming. Music Helps support is available for any genre of music and any instrument.
For more information and to support their mission, please visit www.musichelps.us.
Music teacher Roxanna Zampieri with student Timmy Longmoore and their band instruments, acquired as part of a band initiative co-sponsored by Music Helps. Courtesy photo. Courtesy photo.
Multi-instrumentalist Patrick Ross gives a master class to an Oxbow High School guitar class in Bradford, Vermont. This multi-day intensive was supported in part by Music Helps3chool programming initiative. Courtesy photo.
The Rough and Tumble, a folk/Americana duo, performs at a Music Helps sponsored school- wide assembly at the Newbury Elementary School. Courtesy photo.
On the Newbury Common Newbury Elementary School students experiment with their new band instruments as part of the Music Helps band program collaboration. Students are, left to right, Harrison Woodward, Mckenzie Torrey, Charlotte Spooner, Stephen Oliver and Kaydence Boyce. Courtesy photo.
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