by Susan Klatz Beal

Created on: December 15, 2008   Last Updated: September 22, 2011

When my father, a professional musician and collector of string instruments and bows died in October of 2001, my mother decided to donate many of his instruments that weren't of the quality that other professionals would want to use, to a music program for inner city kids in Chicago. This is a program with which I am very familiar because it was founded back when I was in music school, and during its earliest years, they often used the facilities of my music school because they couldn't afford a space of their own.

This is a program that is designed to reach children who are at risk. Why are they at risk? Because they come from poor families and their families cannot afford to provide their kids with lessons of any kind, nor can they pay for after school programs or any type of recreation. These kids are easily lured by gangs who offer something more than their lives afford them. They offer them the opportunity to prove their worth, even though the means by which to do that may be criminal.

My father taught music throughout much of his life. He knew that music had the power to soothe the savage soul and to calm an anxious mind. For kids who lack everything, music offered them a chance to prove to themselves that they could do something special that wasn't something everyone could do. It helped them acquire discipline, motivation and they committed themselves to doing something. There are programs where kids just show up at scheduled times and get to play an instrument for an hour or so, but trying an instrument out occasionally isn't the same as really getting involved with one.

Each instrument that we donated was then loaned to a student who was able to use that instrument for the time they were in the program. They were allowed to take those instruments home to practice. They were allowed to use them when they played in the orchestra that this program had, and they used the instruments in private lessons and all the other activities that this program offered. These kids felt so special because of the opportunity that this program afforded them. And they knew that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The movie Mr. Holland's Opus is based on a true story about a man by the name of Michael Kazan. After the movie was released, his family created a foundation that they called "Mr. Holland's Opus." This program provides instruments to schools that cannot afford to buy them. By doing this, the foundation enables children who would never have the opportunity to

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