Play it again

Your own days of listening to a child practice “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” on the little violin are long gone.

The tenor sax that made so many early morning trips to orchestra lessons at the middle school sits in its battered case on the top shelf of the closet.

Your children have outgrown, lost interest in, or upgraded their musical instruments and you haven’t had the heart to get rid of them. After all, they reflect an investment of time and money.

The Spokane Symphony has a proposition for you: Donate those musical souvenirs to school children who can’t afford to purchase musical instruments. By doing so, you’ll foster the love of music in a new generation.

Friday night, at the Spokane Symphony concert at the Opera House, volunteers from Spokane schools and members of the Young Chamber Players will have tables set up to accept donated instruments. Young Chamber Players are student musicians who are trained and mentored by members of the Spokane Symphony.

Sandy Kernerman, Spokane Symphony Orchestra Education Committee chairperson, says that the focus of the instrument drive will be to put a usable musical instrument in the hands of any interested child. Initially, the program will benefit students from Spokane schools, but the hope is that it can expand to outlying districts.

The idea for the instrument drive was conceived by Spokane Public Schools Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator, Dave Weathered. “We actually tried this about six years ago but that time we asked people to drop instruments off at another location,” he says. “I think by combining the drive with the symphony concert we’ll get more interest.”

According to Weatherred, Spokane Public Schools distribute more than 1,000 instruments to eligible students – those on the free or reduced lunch program – each year. “But we always run out,” he says. “I hate that.” More than 2,000 children participate in the elementary school orchestra program, he said.

“We want to give any child a chance to play something,” Kernerman says. “By recycling instruments that your own children might have outgrown or no longer play, you can make sure that family finances won’t hold any child back.”

Two local establishments, Amends Music and Violin Works, will refurbish and repair instruments making sure that they are in good shape for students. “We’ll make sure that anything that is playable will get into the hands of a student,” Kernerman says.

Donations are tax deductible and donors will receive a coupon good for tickets to a future symphony concert.