Foothills Composite High School students are sending a parade of instruments to help students in the Caribbean islands.
Foothills School Division is sending approximately 200 instruments, from flutes to tubas, to the Commonwealth of Dominica to provide the students the joy of playing music.
Grade 11 student Richard Charlton put off studying for his Math 20 final exam for a few hours to get the instruments ready for their trip to Dominica. He said it’s a chance to give someone the same opportunities he has had such as playing the trombone and guitar.
“This is what we have to give and it so important to have fine arts in schools,” Charlton said on Jan. 26. “(Playing in a band) you learn a sense of teamwork. It’s almost like you are joining a family.”
He said music provides students with a boost to their self-esteem and can also provide employment opportunities. The most important thing is the joy of music, even at the expense of putting his studying off for two hours.
“I will study tonight, I’m pretty good at math,” Charlton said. “Music is my passion. I wanted to do this…. Music is pretty much what defines me. Music is something anyone can learn and we should try and pass it on.”
Foothills School Division’s involvement with Music Missions Dominica was orchestrated by Tom Taylor, an Okotoks resident who teaches band at Cayley School and Highwood High School in High River.
The project is also helping to provide space at landfills.
“The instruments are at a point where it cost more to repair them than what they are worth,” Taylor said. “A former colleague of mine, Mike Townsend, from Grande Prairie got hold of me and told me about the project. It was either this are put them in the landfill.”
It’s not a case of Foothills School Division dumping their useless instruments on the students in Dominica.
Foothills Comp band instructor Nicole Hounjet, Taylor and approximately 20 students were evaluating each instrument to see if they could be used. As well, all the instruments will first be sent to Edmonton to be repaired for free before being shipped to Dominica. The shipping is being paid for by the Sherwood Park Rotary Club.
“We aren’t sending them anything that is totally useless,” Taylor said. “We are sorting through this stuff to make sure they aren’t some piece of real junk.”
One of the instruments being sent to Edmonton was a trumpet dated 1974 from the then Senator Riley High School.
“Back in 1974 I might have been dancing to Blood, Sweat and Tears at Cobo Hall (Detroit),” Taylor said with a chuckle.
