Lending Support
A key program within the Blue Jay Jazz Foundation‘s annual education initiative involves lending instruments from a maintained instrument bank built by used instruments donated from individuals who no longer play them and from manufacturers and retailers who contribute instruments to the effort. It’s all part of the Blue Jay Jazz programs encouragement of helping young people grow and understand the power of performance, the far-reaching value of musical knowledge, and gain appreciation for different forms of music – both classic and contemporary.
The Blue Jay Jazz Foundation’s Instrument Bank is a fantastic way for older community members to help younger students from RIM Unified and throughout our mountain community take their first step into the world of music.
The Blue Jay Jazz Instrument Lending Program helps schools and students by putting instruments in the hands of young musicians who might otherwise not be able to learn.
Photos: top, Local students and their parents look over and try out instruments at Blue Jay Jazz’ Instrument Lending Event in 2018, held in Dr. Bialecki’s Arrowhead Dental Arts office; inset, Rachel Stallings, a graduating senior in 2017 and one of that year’s scholarship recipients donates equipment she had used to learn drums, prior to heading off to college in Tennessee.
The program includes two components: “Give an Instrument, Inspire a Musician” solicits unused musical instruments from across the mountain and throughout the Inland Empire and beyond; “Play On Instrument Lending” puts those instruments into the hands of students whose parents and teachers identify them as having both the desire and need for an instrument.
Musical instruments are expensive both to purchase or rent, and maintaining, refurbishing and repairing them is also costly. The Blue Jay Jazz Foundation’s ‘Give an Instrument, Inspire a Musician’ program allows members of the local community as well as across the region to help defray costs by donating musical instruments that they no longer play.
Working with music directors and teachers at our local schools, we keep abreast of specific instrument needs for students who have expressed a desire to be in the music program but are unable to afford an instrument they can play during school music classes and even more importantly practice at home.
Without this effort by Blue Jay Jazz Foundation and its supporters, as well as other organizations who help fund these initiatives, these students are forced to sit on the sidelines.
New or used musical instruments donated to the Blue Jay Jazz Foundation, as well as music stands, reeds, method books, solo and ensemble material, and other sheet music, are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law, and a certificate of value is provided to donors once the instrument has been assessed for value and the cost of refurbishment or repair.
If you have an instrument you wish to donate, contact Blue Jay Jazz Foundation by phone, email or U.S. mail. We will discuss the best way to view and/or obtain the instrument. We can arrange a pick up for instruments in our region, or shipping from outside the area.
To donate your unused instrument so a local student can pursue his or her musical dream, send us an email.
