March 2023

The organization that provides instruments to students in struggling music programs needs more schools to apply.

By KATIE EASTMAN, 9News

 At Rocky Mountain Music Repair in Broomfield, owner Brian Stevenson is no stranger to cleaning old student instruments.

“Get all the chocolate chip cookies, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and things out of ’em and kind of get ’em all refreshed that way,” he said while scrubbing a tuba.

Stevenson has become an expert in cleaning donated instruments that have sat in closets for decades. He can handle that. It’s the next step of the process he needs help with.

“We don’t yet have enough applications from schools,” said Steve Blatt, the program’s executive director. “We just want to give these away to schools that need them.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, 28 schools have applied.

Last year, they donated 684 instruments to 45 schools.

For the full story and to learn more click here.

The nonprofit drive asks the public for money to pay to repair instruments that are donated for students in struggling music programs across Colorado.

By NELSON GARCIA, 9News

The sounds of school have a different meaning in the band room for sophomore Sam Riggleman, who plays the trombone and the double bass in orchestra at George Washington High School.

“I feel like almost all of my friends are from band or orchestra,” Sam said, who added that music dominates her life. “… Thinking about, you know, what we’re gonna play next in concert band. What key should we learn next?”

Band director Rick Grassler wants to grow his music program to impact more students like Sam. He turns to nonprofits like Bringing Music to Life to provide curious musicians with donated instruments like Sam’s trombone.

9NEWS partners with the nonprofit Bringing Music to Life every year to ask people to donate used instruments to help students in struggling music programs across Colorado.

View or listen to the entire feature story and hear the George Washington High School orchestra here.

A partnership between Rocky Mountain Music Repair and Bringing Music to Life is getting instruments into the hands of all students.

By BYRON REED, 9News

BROOMFIELD, Colo. — A collaboration between Rocky Mountain Music Repair and the Bringing Music to Life instrument drive is bringing melodies to students across the Front Range.

9NEWS partners with Bringing Music to Life, which asks people to donate their used instruments to benefit students in struggling music programs across Colorado.

Brian Stevenson, co-owner of Rocky Mountain Music Repair, located at 2150 W. 6th Ave. E. in Broomfield, said the instrument drive helps meet the needs of the students.

“The schools help fill that gap, but there’s always kids that need instruments but don’t have them,” Stevenson said. “Every year, we get kids that might not have had the opportunity to be in band if the schools didn’t have the instruments to give to them.”

Read or listen to the full story by clicking here.

Story By KELLY HAYES and Photos by PARKER SEIBOLD, The Gazette

When Melanie Hawthorne Long started teaching at Horizon Middle School nine years ago, there were about 50 students in the band program.

Over the next few years, that number rose to over 200. As the band grew, so did the need for instruments.

“All of a sudden, we needed a lot more instruments, and for my socio-economic area, not all families can afford to buy or rent their kid’s instruments,” she said.

But that didn’t deter Long.

“I’ve made a really strong effort to make sure that I tell every kid money will never be a reason that you don’t get to do band,” she said.

With some help from Bringing Music to Life, a statewide nonprofit, the school has received nearly 50 instruments since 2017 for students to use in orchestra and band, alleviating much of the financial barrier.

To read the full article, click here.

Music teachers want people to donate “endangered instruments.”

By NELSON GARCIA, 9News

The success of any band starts with the instruments. But sometimes those instruments are really hard to find.

“When I first got here, I didn’t even know what a tuba was,” seventh grader ZayDen Frerichs Walker said.

ZayDen is learning to play tuba in concert band class at Jefferson Junior/Senior High School in Edgewater.

“The fact that he never heard a tuba doesn’t surprise me at all, because it’s not in his world. But now it is,” Jefferson Music Director Nathan Prismon said.

ZayDen has a tuba to play thanks to the Bringing Music to Life instrument drive.

9NEWS partners with Bringing Music to Life, which asks people to donate their used instruments to benefit students in struggling music programs across Colorado. Prismon said his program relies on these donations.

“That’s how our program lives and breathes, and it grows or dies based on how many instruments we have given on any year,” Prismon said.

To access the entire feature article click here.