Instrumental music can provide high school students with various benefits both long and short term, from improved response to auditory stimulus to increased ability to learn at a young age. However, the high cost of entry serves as a barrier to these benefits for those who can’t afford it. In addition, oftentimes the musical programs offered by high schools don’t interest students enough to consider joining, further locking away these benefits from a wider audience. This research paper aimed to employ an evaluation approach on various bay area schools. This was to determine the most effective programs to implement for high amounts of student absorption and retention. A survey was to be provided to students participating in band programs, rating their satisfaction with the program, the quality of their instruments, and their desire to continue with music throughout their high school years. These results would be cross-compared with external data from teachers, such as if the school loaned their students instruments or how many ensembles were offered, and important factors were to be picked out from the high rated schools. Ultimately, due to a lack of responses both from students and teachers, the research could not come to a conclusion.