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Abstract
In the Atlanta Public School System, band is seldom offered at the elementary level. As a result, most students experience the band for the first time in 6th grade during middle-school (Schatt, 2017). Students are tasked with selecting an instrument from the brass, woodwind, or percussion families, with their instrument choice having lasting effects on the band program and overall music and educational experiences. Research suggests that a students instrument choice comes from influential factors from their daily lives. The purpose of this quantitative descriptive study was to identify the influence on musical instrument choices made by sixth grade beginning band students in the Atlanta Public School System and to identify the tendencies and rationale that occurred amongst their choices in order to assist band directors in building stronger foundations of band programs in Atlanta Public School system. A survey comprised of eleven Likert scaled questions and open-ended questions were utilized to collect data regarding gender, ethnicity, whether they were on free and reduced lunch and why they chose that instrument. The findings in the study indicated that the instrument choices 6th-grade band students in Atlanta Public Schools are influenced by several factors from the sound of the instrument to the influence of family members and friends. Additional influences include cost, availability, aesthetic features and affordability.