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Music teaching is a revealing field for the study of art as a pedagogical device. It enables us to consider the relations between its main “actors”: teachers, students, parents and musical instruments. These instruments play a role in the daily pedagogical actions, having a unique impact on the teacher-student relation. Throughout this article, those same objects are going to be our guides to discover the territories where students live. Musical instruments are essential “mediators” for the personal and social development of students. They also are excellent informers when we apply qualitative methods of analysis. The results come from ethnographic research done in three different musical programs: El Sistema, in Venezuela; Neojiba, in Brazil; Orquestra Geração, in Portugal. Paradoxically, from a socioeconomical perspective, the worst territories can be the best contexts to reinforce the attachments between students to their musical school (núcleo).