SWEET NOTE TO SCHOOLS
Boch charity provides musical instruments to students
Music Drives Us, a charity founded by musician and businessman Ernie Boch Jr. to “keep music in the schools,” supports music education programs, supplies schools with musical instruments and sponsors music therapy programs, and more, throughout New England.
The Herald was recognized yesterday by Boch for its support of the program that just celebrated its 10-year anniversary in August. Boch joined Boston Herald Radio’s “The Rundown” program with Zuri Berry yesterday to talk about music and more:
Q: Some of the instruments that you guys provide, including recycled ones, are cool.
A: We’ve developed what we call the Music Drives Us Seed Kit, and our great mayor, Mayor (Martin) Walsh, has let us bring them to some of the public schools and it’s all recycled material. The teachers in not just the public schools, in a lot of schools, instruments are tough to come by or they charge the kids, and that’s a problem, charging the kids ... so we’re putting these seed kits in the schools and it’s really been popular. Very, very popular.
Q: What are some of the popular instruments kids use?
A: Although guitar is a popular instrument, the wind instruments are probably the most popular — the saxophone, the clarinet, you know, a few trumpets — and some of the kids get adventurous with the tubas and the drums.
We’ve gone into schools where they have instruments that have been there for 30 and 40 years. They can’t be repaired anymore and it’s difficult to play the instruments like that, if they can be played at all. So going in and providing the schools with brandnew quality instruments — like when we provide guitars and saxophones we don’t get like the cheap, cheap, cheap ones, right, because they won’t last — we get a really nice, good quality instruments that can last for years and years.
Q: How far is the Music Drives Us spread?
A: The six states of New England. We are a 501(c)3 (nonprofit) in the six states of New England. We have funded programs in all six states. We just closed our grant cycle and had over 400 applicants. 400! Q: Where is the greatest need? A: The greatest need: it’s still in the schools. It’s still in the schools.
Q: Located where?
A: Well, we’re kind of Mass-centric. Most of our exposure is in Massachusetts, but we’re up in Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut. You know, all six states.
Q: What was your first instrument?
A: My first instrument was drums, when I was a kid . ... I would like to give the parents a little bit of advice coming from a guy that is around kids with music and stuff. Don’t be a tiger mom or a tiger dad with instruments. If somebody says, “I want to play an instrument,” let’s say they want to play violin. OK, they want to play violin. They play violin and then say, “This isn’t what I want” and the parents go, “No. You have to stick with it. Do not quit.” That’s not good. Let the kid get off the violin and say, “OK, you don’t like the violin. What do you want?” My son’s a perfect example. He started with guitar, then he went to bass and now he’s settled on drums — and he loves drums.