In a phrase, perform, lead, and serve.
The Tri-M Music Honor Society is the international music honor society for middle/junior high and high school students. It is designed to recognize students for their academic and musical achievements, reward them for their accomplishments and service activities, and to inspire other students to excel at music and leadership.
Our Tri-M Music Honor Society chapter, #3402 opens up a world of opportunities for students who have already shown themselves to be academically capable and musically gifted. Through performance and community service, they’ll develop confidence, creativity, critical thinking, compassion, and a host of other leadership skills sure to serve them well in school and beyond.
Tri-M is a program of the National Association for Music Education.
Fundraising Ideas Inside Your Own Walls
- Incorporate “music history tidbits” in your school’s daily announcements.
- Include other departments in the production of concerts and musicals (use drama club members as MCs, shop classes to help with scenery construction, art students to create posters or backdrops, dance class students as dancers, etc.).
- Invite community music groups to perform with you at concerts, participate in clinics, or meetings.
- Establish and/or judge elementary or middle school performance or composition contests.
- Get involved with NAfME’s national campaign for the preservation of music education in our schools. Include a local Collegiate NAfME chapter in a community service project.
- Sponsor a school dance or career day. Assist with school building maintenance (landscaping, hall decorating, clean up, painting).Host receptions for visiting performers or special guests.
- Assist at state conferences in your area through hosting visitors and helping with registration.
- Produce a slide show or video of your school’s musical activities for recruitment and information purposes.
Embracing Your Community
- Establish an annual community award for the person, business, or organization most supportive of your music program.
- Partner with local businesses to advertise upcoming musical events and projects. Give music lessons at local group homes, orphanages, or retirement homes.
- Purchase or repair used instruments and offer lessons or donate instruments to the community.
- Usher, prepare sets, costumes, programs, and collect tickets at community concerts, theater shows, or festivals.
- Serve as the hospitality committee or hosts for a community meeting.
- Assist public radio/television in their fund-raisers and outreach programs.
Providing for Those in Need
- Donate concert proceeds to a local charity.
- Volunteer at a soup kitchen—offer performances as well as food.
- Help a food pantry distribute food to needy families. Canned food drives—charge one can admission to a concert or have a donation box at your school (don’t forget flood and hurricane victims).
- Coordinate a clothing drive (summer and winter!).
- Give music lessons at a local shelter—raise money or seek sponsorship to purchase a piano for the shelter.
- Give Shoebox gifts (for babies, teens, and adults; hygiene boxes, pet boxes, etc.).
It's Elementary
- Compose and perform songs for local children’s programs (daycare, elementary schools) with themes such as “eat your fruits and vegetables,” “say no to drugs,” “don’t smoke,” etc.
- Develop a musical fairy tale to introduce young children to instruments by including musical demonstrations in the story. Let the kids try the instruments afterward.
- Partner with any “keep kids safe” program and present a session to school faculty/staff with live music.
- Give music lessons to elementary or homebound kids.
- Assist with rehearsals and performances of the World’s Largest Concert® at your local elementary school.
Supporting Seniors
- Visit a retirement/nursing home and give a concert/have a sing-a-long.
- Adopt a Grandparent—take him or her shopping, play games, do crafts, talk.
- Coordinate with the program director to plan a Senior Prom for residents of a retirement/nursing home.
- Hold a special Seniors brunch before a Sunday matinee performance at school.
- Visit the elderly in their homes and help them with yard work, shoveling snow, grocery delivery, etc.
Safeguarding Health
- Organize and participate in a blood drive and provide entertainment.
- Sponsor a CPR course.
- Participate in a mock accident through MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).
- Visit local hospitals and perform for the patients.
Preserving the Environment
- Adopt a Highway and get your Tri-M chapter’s name and members out there for everyone to see.
- Join an environmental group to clean up a stream. Organize a recycling program.
Decking the Halls
- Sponsor a Holiday Gift Tree at your school and collect gifts for Toys for Tots and local families in need.
- Provide singing telegrams on birthdays, Valentine’s Day, and other special occasions to faculty and students or community businesses.
- Decorate the school during the holiday season in conjunction with a concert.
- Participate in a gift-wrapping party at a retirement/nursing home.
- Go Christmas caroling at a local shelter, retirement/nursing home, or senior center—help Seniors decorate their Christmas tree.
Chapters for Hire
- Coordinate a newspaper drive.
- Recycle bottles or soda cans—some states offer refunds for recycling.
- As a chapter, advertise your yard work services—rake leaves, mow grass, pull weeds. Shovel walks in the winter months.
- Collect mail and newspapers for people on vacation.
- Offer gift-wrapping services around the holidays.