BMTL In the News

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.

By CLAUDIA GAROLFALO, Colorado & Company

Steve Blatt of Bringing Music to Life and Brian Stevenson of Rocky Mountain Music Repair work together for the success of the Bringing Music to Life Instrument Drive and, more importantly, for the success of young students learning to play an instrument.

By TINA CARTAGENA, KUVO Jazz

The statewide donation locations are the hub of the Bringing Music to Life community. They are the meeting point, the gathering place.

• They are thanked for being our link to our instrument donors.
• They are thanked for schlepping and storing our instrument donations.
• They are thanked for collecting and cataloging our instrument donations.

Visit the KUVO website for the full post and accompanying interview with Steve Blatt.

By KARLA WALKER· Aug. 19, 2022, 12:04 pm

Rosalind Greisz is one of those teachers who goes above and beyond for her students. She recently drove over 600 miles roundtrip to pick up newly refurbished instruments that she’ll take back to her band room in Ouray.

“This is going to be huge! It’s going to be every single student having the opportunity to have music in their home.”

Read the full article.

By NELSON GARCIA, 9News

Danna Orocsco, a freshman at Jefferson Junior/Senior High School in Edgewater, knows what it’s like to try to learn music with few resources. 

“I’m from Colombia,” Danna said. “I was born and raised there, and we only learn about music theory because there’s really not enough money to provide everybody with an instrument.”

Jefferson and teacher Nathan Prismon don’t have the money either.

“It would be impossible, not even close,” Prismon said. 

Yet, in Prismon’s orchestra class, Danna has her own instrument to play and so do her classmates, even though Prismon said about 90% of the students who attend the school live in poverty.

“We have a lot of students who can’t afford their own instruments. So, it’s helped us build our own instrument library,” Prismon said. “We could get instruments out to those students who can’t afford them. It’s really honestly life or death for us.”

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