Little attention has been paid to the role of band music in the lives of young people in the first half of the twentieth century. For those in institutional care, musical education represented a rare opportunity to prepare for a specialist career in the armed forces. For the care institutions, the boys' band provided many benefits as it presented a positive exemplar of their reforming potential. There were also benefits for the boys themselves as band training offered them the prospect of a career as a bandsman in the army or navy and for a select minority the chance of promotion to bandmaster. The evidence from the boys' letters shows that they valued the intrinsic benefits of belonging to the band and learning an instrument. For some poor boys, musical education offered a relief from the rigors of institutional care in circumstances where there were few pleasures on offer. (Contains 1 figure and 64 footnotes.)