Ted Brown Music Outreach
Because music makes life better...
Music is the best tool we can give our children to help them learn and grow. With that in mind, we founded Ted Brown Music Outreach in 2007 in order to help bring the joy of music to those who otherwise couldn’t afford it.
There are countless studies, spanning decades, proclaiming the benefits of playing music. After all, what other subject teaches math, critical thinking, physical coordination, fine motor skills, history, language, teamwork, and spatial awareness all at once. In this fast-paced world striving for efficiency in all things, who wouldn’t want to improves themselves in so many ways with just one activity?
Music is a miracle, but sadly not everyone has equal access it. That’s where Ted Brown Music Outreach comes in.
Most school music programs provide a limited number of instruments for those in need, but at the end of the day, it is the school’s instrument. Too often, students with loaner instruments end up feeling like there isn’t a reason to practice or strive for excellence, because their instrument is taken from them at the end of the school year. On the other hand, students whose parents either rent or buy an instrument develop a sense of ownership, which translates to working harder and taking better care of that instrument.
Ted Brown Music Outreach bridges the gap between these two sides.
The Outreach Program Overview
First, we collect used instruments. You know the ones – sitting in the attic gathering dust and haven’t been played in years. We’ll take anything from great-grandpa’s cornet to the viola you played in high school and no longer need.
After an initial inspection to make sure the instrument can be repaired, our repair technicians donate their time to clean the instruments and perform any repairs necessary, ensuring each instrument plays the best it can. Once the instrument is ready, they pass it off to Ted Brown Music Outreach, which is a registered 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization.
Do you have an instrument you no longer need? Let us know so we can put it in the hands of a child who needs it!
Receiving a Ted Brown Music Outreach Instrument
Any student who receives free or reduced school lunches and is enrolled in a school music program is qualified to receive an Outreach instrument. After a student applies for an instrument, her name is placed on a waiting list until we have the instrument she needs. When it’s ready, students can pick up their instrument from a Ted Brown Music location near them. If they don’t live nearby, a Ted Brown Music Educational Services Rep will deliver it to their school.
Once the instrument is in the student’s hand, it belongs to them. They own it. Period. Our only request is that, if they decide they no longer need the instrument, they return it so that we can then give it to someone else in need.
Since we started, Ted Brown Music Outreach has donated more than 1,000 instruments to the students who need them most. And thanks to the generosity of our community, we are well on our way to donating the next thousand.
Click the button below to learn more about this program and how you can get involved. After all, music changes lives, and we strive to make sure nothing stops the kids of our community from making music.