A plea ...

If you've been reading my posts for any time now, you know that I am involved as a student at an exciting enterprise known as The Upper Valley Music Center. It is a music school in Lebanon, NH which currently provides music instruction for over 900 students. I am immensely proud that this is happening in the area I grew up in (even more so that Lebanon is my mother's home town), especially in these times when music (and art) instruction have all but disappeared from public schools.

The music school purchased a new facility last year: A splendid mansion (built in 1815) on Colburn Park in Lebanon. It's a dream come true for the school. Through enormous generosity, they have been able to retire a good portion of the mortgage and the push is on to get it fully paid so that resources can go into music instruction for today's youth.

The new UVMC

In an effort to retire the mortage, the school is producing a fund raiser going by the name "Sing and Play 50K" which will take place on May 19th in Colburn Park, the music school's facility, and other locations in Lebanon. Students and faculty from the school will perform 50,000 seconds of music on May 19th starting at 7:04 am and ending at 9:00 pm. This music will be free to any and all who wish to attend.

I, myself, am participating via the Upper Valley Chamber Orchestra (which is a program of UVMC), the cello choir (an adult course I have enrolled in for a number of semesters already), and playing part of Schubert's Fantasy for 1 piano, 4 hands.

As if all of this were not exciting enough, we, the orchestra are performing Terry Riley's 1964 masterpiece "In C". I cannot tell you what a thrill it is to perform this piece, it is epic. The cello choir I am part of will play 6 or 7 shorter pieces, and the Schubert speaks for itself. If you care to listen to either "In C" or the Schubert, here are some videos:

Terry Riley's "In C":



Schubert Fantasy, 4 hands, 1 piano:



So what is this plea? I am asking for donations to sponsor me in these performances. The really great part of this is that the amount donated is not as important as the number of donations, you see, because we currently have a challenge grant of $17,000 if we can get 1000 new donors!

As sincerely as is possible, I'm asking if you can spare $10, $20, or more. It would go towards an invaluable resource. Bringing music into the lives of today's toddlers, children, adolescents, teens, and adults working to fulfill their musical dreams.

I have a page where you can make a donation in my name. I can't thank you enough in advance for considering this. Thank you.

My fundraising page where you can contribute: Sponsor me

and the Sing & Play 50k main page: We have 8 days to acquire 213 new donors