Tri-M® Music Honor Society

The Tri-M Music Honor Society is the international music honor society recognizing secondary music students for their musical ability, academic excellence, school involvement, and community service.

The Tri-M Music Honor Society logo is rich in symbolism. The three M’s stand for “Modern Music Masters,” the society’s original name. Music is represented by the lyre and the scroll, which denote accomplishment and service. The five lines of the music staff indicate the five criteria upon which members are selected: scholarship, character, cooperation, leadership, and service.

Because Tri-M® is an honor society rather than a social club, members can’t just join, they have to be chosen by their Band Director. All honor societies have standards-also called criteria-that students have to meet before they can become members.

So, what does it take to be a Tri-M member? Band Directors pick students who show outstanding scholarship, leadership, service, and character, to honor them for their accomplishments.

Here’s an explanation of the criteria, which your Band Director can choose to utilize:

Music Participation-you have to be (or have been) in a school music ensemble or class for at least one semester of the current school year.

Grades/Scholarship-you have to have maintained a B average grade (or equivalent) in music, as well as at least a C average grade in your other classes, during the last semester.

Leadership-your Band Director can consider any school or community activity that you’ve been actively involved in.

Service-your Band Director can consider any school or community service activity you’ve been a part of, as long as whatever you did, you did for someone else and didn’t get money or receive any other kind of payment for it.

Character-your Band Director is looking for members who demonstrate respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Examples are being responsible, following school policies and procedures, being respectful of others and their property, being honest, being punctual, and being patient.

So, contact your Band Director to see if you can become a member!