During the 1970s, the violinist and teacher Alberto Jaffé had an idea that would change the course of Brazilian music education: he created a program to teach mixed strings to children from economically disadvantaged communities. His goal was to make orchestral music accessible and to provide these children with the skills and opportunities to pursue a career in music, which could also facilitate social mobility and change. The goal of this oral history is to document and unveil Jaffé’s revolutionary program, a milestone of Brazilian music education that is still unfamiliar to music educators and musicians in Brazil and around the world. The data collection consisted of document and artifact analysis and interviews of members of Jaffé family, former students of his program, administrators and other musicians who were familiar with his program. This research aims to bring awareness of Jaffé’s contributions to music education in Brazil, as well as to inspire musicians around the world to take the first step to achieve change. In May of 1975, sponsored by a governmental organization, Jaffé started to teach strings to children from Fortaleza-Ceará, one of the poorest areas in Brazil at the time. A year later, these children developed enough skills to perform as an orchestra. The success of this experience inspired the Ministry of Education to expand the program igniting a movement that would stimulate the democratization of music, make instrumental instruction accessible to diverse communities around the country. The outcomes of Jaffé’s program included hundreds of professional string players, the formation of new orchestras, and especially the creation of music programs for social change such as Projeto Guri, Instituto Pão de Açúcar de Desenvolvimento Humano, and InstitutoBaccarelli (Visockas, 2022). Some of these programs became role models of musical practices for social change and currently provide music education for thousands of children.