In December of 2018, we decided that we wanted to try something different. Instead of a just having a Toy Drive for the holidays, we decided to do something extra special, a Musical Instrument Drive. Many people have musical instruments that they no longer use, so we decided to put out a call for gently used instruments. We would have our technicians fix them up and then donate them to special places where kids and adults could play them. Instruments need to make music and there is no point in having an instrument in the closet collecting dust, right? Well we had no idea how many instruments we would get! Guitars, bass guitars, violins, harmonicas, keyboards, amps, cases and more! In addition to people coming by with their instruments, we even had businesses donating instruments. We were so moved by how many people wanted to contribute.
So many people donated guitars! Including businesses!
Thank you to Mark Seiden Real Estate Team for donating all these violins!
The instruments were overflowing from boxes in our waiting room.
Thanks to the generosityof our community, we donated 14 guitars to the Ossining Children's Center. We designed a program with the Children's Center which would enable us to visit them for a few weeks and give them some lessons. The Ossining Children's Center will keep these guitars and we will continue to go there regulary and give them lessons. The kids will be allowed to take the guitars home if they want. We are providing them with worksheets so they can practice and will send them YouTube Videos to also assist in practicing. We are hoping to be able to do a show with them in the future!
It was exciting to pack up the cars and bring the guitars over to the Ossining Children's Center.
The kids helped us carry them inside! They couldn't wait to play them.
Along with the guitars, we have donated group guitar lessons.
The kids get to practice on the guitars during the week with their teachers at Ossining Children's Center.
We are teaching the kids simple chords and songs.
We hope that some, if not all will be inspired to keep playing!
The kids even made Miriam a birthday card!
It was so nice to read the card! The kids are so happy to be taking guitar lessons!
The Ossining Chidlren's Center students are learning to play C, F, G and Am chords. They are working on playing a medley of songs they know by artists like Post Malone, Dua Lipa and Maroon 5. They also learned that these are the same chords in Let It Be by the Beatles. They are such a great group and we are really enjoying working with them. The Ossining Children's Center is a great place and we are so lucky to get to work with all these amazing kids and teachers!
Check out this video to hear what the kids are working on and what they think about playing guitar!
