The purpose of this article is to use the lens of the author's teaching experience to examine the complexities and understand the difficulties involved in transforming instructional practices in secondary schools in the USA. The study is an autoethnography, which is a research approach that examines personal experiences to understand how beliefs are shaped and thereby allow us to interpret our work and the world in a meaningful manner. The paper reviews concerns that critics have expressed regarding the difficulties of reforming large ensemble music instruction in secondary schools. The author's experiences in attempting to transform his own practice suggest that unexamined underlying values, axioms and power relationships inhibit meaningful change and reform in public school music education. Lessons from testing reform-based ideas by actually working with students and teachers in secondary settings provide insights into the intransient nature of school music practice. The article concludes with suggestions as to how reform and transformation might be realized.