The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how high school marching band instructors described extra-musical life skills teaching strategies in Northern California within the Western Band Association (WBA) organizational circuit. Theoretical foundations of this study were social emotional learning (SEL) based on the seminal research by Salovey and Mayer and positive youth development (PYD) with origins in the seminal work of Bronfrenbenner's ecological systems theory. The following research questions guided this study: RQ1: How did high school marching band instructors describe the implicit and explicit teaching strategies they used to teach extra-musical life skills to their high school marching band students? RQ2: What meaning did high school marching band instructors give to the use of implicit and explicit life skills teaching strategies? The sample for this research study was high school marching band instructors with a minimum of three years of experience within the WBA in Northern California. Data collection sources were 12 one-to-one semi-structured interviews and two focus groups comprising of six participants each. Thematic analysis generated seven themes ranging from life skills definitions, goals and outcomes, curriculum-based strategies, motivational based strategies, benefits of life skills training, awareness of life skills training, and expanded teaching benefits. The findings showed the variety of curriculum strategies that high school marching band instructors utilize to teach to specific life skills goals and outcomes. Additionally, findings also revealed the personal and team benefits of a life skills training program within the high school marching band. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]