Present A Gift of Music

Present A Gift of Music
by Lisa Hummel

As a man on the Harrisburg music scene for a number of years, Bob Welsh has the authority to speak on what he knows best: music. Performing music, instructing music, recording and producing music — as he does at his Harrisburg-based The Green Room studios — and listening to music. He also knows how important music is in the lives of today’s youth. And that’s where “The Gift of Music” program began.

In 1995, Welsh developed a rough outline of a program that would bring music to the children who most wanted and needed it. He imagined a way in which instruments were collected and given to those children, allowing them to perform without the worries of when and where and how costly lessons and the purchasing of the instrument might be. It’s taken a while, but his vision is finally a reality.

A MetroArts program, “The Gift of Music” has been established to “collect, restore, and distribute band and orchestra instruments to students interested in learning to play an instrument.” Throughout the spring and summer, MetroArts will have a number of designated locations at which the public can drop off their used instruments. From stationary locations, such as the MetroArts building on Forster Street in Harrisburg or the Citadel Communications (105.7 the X and Cat Country 106.7) offices in Elizabethtown, to special events locations, such as Senators games at City Island or concerts at Hershey Park, Welsh wants the public’s involvement to be a simple one: merely donate an instrument and let the hard work up to the students.

“Just drop off an instrument or send a check — it’s as easy as that,” he said. “A year from now? I hope we’ll have collected hundreds of instruments and distributed them to the kids and programs who need them.”

Having been an adjunct professor at the Harrisburg Area Community College and an instructor of private lessons, Welsh has seen and met with many music teachers throughout the area and feels strongly that this program will supplement their needs. “In some distressed areas, they’re continuing to give lessons without instruments,” he said, “… and some children won’t take lessons because they’re embarrassed that they can’t afford the instruments.” To help rectify that situation, the collected instruments will be sent to new and existing programs at such places as the Boys and Girls Club, as well as private and public school and church programs. A regional undertaking, “The Gift of Music” has drawn inquiries from music programs as close as Harrisburg itself and as far as Chambersburg, a fact that further encourages Welsh that the program is on the right track to making music a part of every interested child’s life. “There is a definite need,” said Welsh. “And to think that there are instruments sitting somewhere collecting dust.”

Strawberry Square will host a drop-off location for the week starting Monday, April 16. Drop-off locations will also be at Commerce Bank, Citadel Communications, WITF, MetroArts, and Forte Music, as well as Senators games on May 11 and June 27. For more information, contact Bob Welsh at 238-1887.

Upon their collection, the instruments will be taken to Forte Music, where they will be refurbished and repaired. To supplement those costs, a repair fund has been set up and monetary donations are being accepted at: Gift of Music, Attention: Sandy Lee, Fulton Bank, 200 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA, 17101.