For 156 students at Taylor County Middle School, band practice is about to get a whole lot better.
“They’re a pretty high-strung bunch of kids and i absolutely love their enthusiasm. They’re incredible,” said Band Director Christopher Dickey of the students he teaches each day.
Dickey was thrilled to share with his students that they would be receiving $35,000 dollars in new band equipment. It is all made possible through a grant from VH1 Save The Music.
“We definitely benefit from those instruments. Students who can’t afford those instruments are given that opportunity and we’ve actually had some students this year already who could not afford instruments who have been given that opportunity and they have them,” Dickey said.
The First Lady of West Virginia talked with students on Thursday, echoing those thoughts.
“A lot of school systems because of budget cuts or whatever haven’t been able to grow their music programs and having this partnership now with VH1 Save The Music is going to enable students who couldn’t afford instruments to have them,” Tomblin said.
Representative David McKinley said expanding the arts can create smarter students.
“Arts is so incredibly important for all of us. We need to grow up understanding the impact that our music and our arts programs can have, so to hear this with these kids, they were enthusiastic about it,” McKinley said.
The Save The Music program has donated about $53 million to more than two thousand schools in the form of instruments and instruction.
It is a gift the students at Taylor County Middle School said they will not take for granted.
“When they found out, they were super excited. They said ‘we’re getting new instruments?’ and the percussion especially they said ‘we’re getting new percussion stuff? Finally, we don’t have to play on the old broken stuff’,” Dickey said.
Save The Music has now benefited each county in West Virginia.
