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ALTO is an international, youth-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in California and incorporated in Delaware. We aim to work with high school musicians around the world to start and successfully run music tutoring programs in their school or community by providing the necessary resources, network, and consulting, free of charge. Our league is a collection of independent music tutoring programs with the vision of creating a world where quality music education is readily accessible to all students.

ALTO programs are music tutoring programs run by high school musicians in local towns and cities. These programs offer free or reduced rate private lessons to elementary and middle school students in the school, school district, or surrounding community. Each tutoring program is fully independent and each program has its own specific mission, vision, policies, and structure. The tutoring program brings high school musicians and younger students together within the same local community. Students gain inspiration and a glimpse into the next stages of their musical journey through affordable, consistent private lessons. Tutors are able to pass on their knowledge and experience, sharpen their leadership skills, and gain invaluable teaching experience. Consequently, these music tutoring programs create reciprocal relationships, growing and strengthening the school or community’s music program as a whole.

The ALTO global network refers to the web of ALTO programs. Music tutoring programs will help each other promote, startup, and grow, while getting and giving assistance to and from ALTO. In addition, ALTO hosts ‘ALTO-wide’ events such as virtual concerts, masterclasses, lectures, and workshops in which participants from all ALTO programs are invited to learn and create music together. This network brings together the individual programs and builds musical unity at the global level.

What sets ALTO programs apart from other forms of music education is the overarching community focus. Each ALTO program is a multigrade community of local students. Older students help motivate and inspire the younger students, who will in turn stick to the music program and later serve as leaders to inspire the next generation. This local musical unity allows for positive, long term impact in the local community, something that cannot be replicated with groups that tutor students around the country/world.

Leadership is at the heart of all music-mentorship communities. Tutors must demonstrate strong leadership through private lessons, passing on their knowledge and experience to the younger students. The Program Coordinators must possess even more leadership skills as they are the ones who start, manage, and grow the tutoring program. While both tutoring and being a Program Coordinator can be difficult or seem daunting, it is an extremely rewarding experience for high school musicians.

ALTO offers free consultation through Zoom and 24 hour response times to all questions to help you establish your program. We also have a variety of resources, including the ALTO Model Documents, a step-by-step guide on creating on your tutoring program. In addition, ALTO has a wide array of supplemental documents, templates, and videos to help you navigate the process. Once your program is established, we will continue to work with you to improve and grow your program through consultation, weekly check ins, resources, and professional development seminars.

There is no legal relationship between ALTO and its programs. ALTO will not exert any direct control or take any ownership in any tutoring program. Each program is free to implement whatever policies it wishes to do as long as it is not discriminatory and is in abidance with federal and state law. ALTO will not charge a membership fee to any of its programs - all services that are promised to be free will be free of charge.

ALTO strives to offer equity in music education to all students, regardless of socioeconomic situations. Many of our programs are Volunteer Programs offering all music lessons for free. Most of the Paid Programs also offer free lessons exclusively to low income students. Programs that serve low income students are eligible to request grants through the ALTO Grants Program, which means that in most cases expenses for sheet music, instrument accessories, etc. can be fully covered by ALTO and the tutoring program.

Yes! While most ALTO-supported programs were started with the assistance of ALTO, some were standalone programs which later joined the network. When your program joins the network it will still remain fully independent and under your control, but will also be eligible to receive all of the benefits from ALTO including consulting (for growing your program and dealing with conflicts), marketing and PR on our website and social media platforms, eligibility to participate in virtual events and performances, and eligibility to request funding (if applicable). If you run an existing tutoring program and would like to join the network, please contact us.

Yes! Although most of our tutoring programs are located in the United States, we do have some programs in other parts of the world as well.

Yes! Although our models are built around school music programs, some of our programs are backed by community organizations such as youth orchestras and local nonprofits. Tutoring programs can be a great way to build local musical unity within a youth music organization, summer camp program, or other youth organizations.