Teaching at-risk students can be one of the "most stressful, complex and difficult challenges facing public education today and perhaps one of our greatest failures." What further complicates this challenge is that there is no commonly accepted definition of the term at risk, and it is difficult to determine which students this label should identify Generally, the term has negative implications, leading many educators and school officials to inappropriately discount these troubling students. For the purpose of this article, seven master teachers were interviewed to identify personal qualities and teaching strategies that may contribute to their success in handling at-risk students in the music classroom. These master teachers, leaders in the music education profession from urban and suburban schools, maintain excellent reputations among colleagues and have established award-winning quality ensembles and programs in extremely difficult school environments with challenging students. These interviews provide insight into the teachers' definitions of the term at risk, effective teaching strategies, and ideas about the benefits of music participation for at-risk students. In order to elicit detailed responses, master teachers were assured anonymity. For profiles of the seven teachers, labeled A through G in this article, see the Teacher Interview Guide sidebar. (Contains 13 notes, 3 MENC resources, & 5 additional resources.)