Help Out The Manilow Music Project

I was a band and choir geek all through school. I ended up focusing more on voice by the end of high school, but I loved being in band too. At various times I played trumpet, clarinet, tuba, and violin. I also learned over time to play piano and guitar by ear,
Music education was extremely important to me. I felt like I actually belonged somewhere during a time in my life when I mostly felt I didn’t fit in anywhere.
School was always difficult for me. I was very much a loner, very easily bored with what I was being taught and, honestly, the only reason I liked school at all was because it got me out of the house and away from the nightmare that lived there for, at least, a few hours a day. Having to deal with that nightmare made it very difficult for me to concentrate at school and I barely squeaked by all of my classes with C’s and sometimes only D’s. It wasn’t that I wasn’t smart or that I couldn’t do the work. I just couldn’t concentrate enough in class.
Music was my saving grace. And it actually helped me to do better in my other classes. I still didn’t make A’s, but my grades did go up. It also helped me to fit in with other kids.
It wasn’t always easy, There were some schools I went to that had next to nothing to provide students for their music classes, Funny how they always had more than enough for the football teams, though,
I remember a couple classes where everyone had to share the same sheet music or we’d have to spread the sheet music on the floor at our feet because there weren’t enough music stands, And if an instrument needed repair… forget it. You were likely out of luck the rest of the year unless you knew how to fix the problem yourself or could afford to take it to a professional who could. Few of us could do that.
I remember one time I got a crack in my violin… I ended up repairing it myself after getting advice from my music and woodshop teachers and spending a lot of my saved up allowance money. I sanded down my violin, filled the crack with some wood glue, sanded it again and refinished… quite a task for a 14 year old with no experience and the fact that any changes to an instrument can damage the tonal qualities. And there were some changes to the sound of my instrument, but not enough to make it unplayable. I was actually quite proud of the job I did and it looked new when I finished the work.
Because of that experience, I’ve always known how difficult it’s been for some schools just to keep a music program going, As the years have gone by, budget cuts in education have made it even more difficult causing many schools to cut music programs altogether,
When I heard that my favorite musician/performer had started an organization to help schools keep their music programs going… well, of course, I decided to do what I could to support that endeavor.
I’ve donated money of my own to the Manilow Music Project and now I am asking you to help me support them, too,
It’s easy to do and only takes a few minutes. Please do what you can to help. Thanks!

http://wishes.causes.com/wishes/183510