The Abington School District music program was featured by Yamaha Music USA in an article titled “The Power of Problem Solving“.

The story highlights music industry teacher Kevin Longwill, who was named to the Yamaha “40 Under 40” music education advocacy program in February.

An excerpt:

Longwill, who teaches music classes for Abington’s middle and high schools, originally taught students digital recording as a way to keep them engaged in music while school was virtual in 2020. During the years since, digital music instruction has grown into a program called Modern Music Makers, also known as M3. This co-curricular music program for middle and high school students has four total divisions: management, media, marketing and mentorship. Through M3, students develop a variety of skills in performance, songwriting, technical production, show development and other facets of the professional music industry.

The story goes on to discuss the Modern Music Invitational, which is heading into its third year. Eight schools and about 350 students participated in April. So far, the 2025 version has 15 schools and more than 500 students registered, according to Yamaha.

“At the conclusion of every show, I sit back awestruck at what the kids just did,” Longwill said. “The invitational is a thousand percent the highlight of my career so far. Just to see that many kids playing for and with each other … that is as authentic as it can get with what they want to do.”

For tickets to the Invitational, scheduled for Saturday, March 22, you can click here.

The M3 program was also highlighted by 6ABC in March. In July, sophomore Lukas Tokarczyk won a contest for her essay about Longwill.

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