{"id":2019659,"date":"2025-09-13T17:39:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T17:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2019659"},"modified":"2025-09-13T17:39:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T17:39:23","slug":"how-quincy-band-program-got-65000-in-new-musical-instruments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/how-quincy-band-program-got-65000-in-new-musical-instruments\/","title":{"rendered":"How Quincy band program got $65,000 in new musical instruments"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Keyboards, guitars, amplifiers, alto and soprano saxophones, a stage piano, percussion \u2013 even a gong.<\/p>\n\n

These are just some of the 36 brand new musical instruments valued at over $65,000 in all, which were just donated to Quincy’s middle school band program by Ernie Boch Jr.’s Music Drives Us<\/a>, a nonprofit supporting emerging artists and music education throughout New England established in 2006.<\/p>\n

Young musicians crowded into Point Webster Middle School<\/a>‘s gymnasium on Tuesday, Sept. 9, to see the new instruments after a brief ceremony attended by Mayor Thomas Koch, Superintendent Kevin Mulvey, Assistant Superintendent Erin Perkins and representatives of Music Drives Us.<\/p>\n

Also in attendance was Point Webster’s band instructor, Chuck Wilson. Under his leadership, the school\u2019s music program has exploded from just 13 students in 2015 to 85 today. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n

The young musicians clearly appreciate the soft-spoken Wilson. After polite clapping for the mayor and other school official, the 60 or so middle-schoolers burst into a thunderous ovation at their maestro\u2019s name. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cA lot these kids won\u2019t play the flute or clarinet for life,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cBut they\u2019ll always have an appreciation for music that they\u2019ll carry through their whole lives as a result of this program.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The gift\u00a0will help the band programs at Quincy’s five middle schools grow even larger, Wilson said, allowing the district to lend out more horns, woodwinds and strings to those\u00a0who can\u2019t afford them. That\u2019s music to Wilson\u2019s ears, especially given Point Webster\u2019s high percentage of low-income families. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The donation, which includes a stage piano, makes a significant addition to the district\u2019s stock of about 175 musical instruments, many of which show signs of heavy use and even rust, Wilson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\u201cSome of them are older than I am,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Spreading musical education and access to instruments is the main goal of Music Drives Us, according to the nonprofit’s program coordinator, Jacyn Tremblay<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A talented soul and jazz\u00a0singer who has performed at Boston Symphony Hall, Tremblay said music education goes beyond pitch, tempo and deciphering sheet music. For building confidence, teamwork and creativity, music education is instrumental, she said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are on a crusade to keep music in schools,\u201d Tremblay said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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Students at Point Webster were singing the same tune as Tremblay. Sixth-grade saxophonist Lucas Ooi said his musical training gives him confidence and motivation. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I play a song just right, it\u2019s like, Yo! I did it!\u201d Lucas said. \u201cLet\u2019s do this! Let\u2019s go the next level!\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Lucas wasn\u2019t the only one amped up about the new gear. After the short ceremony, students jumped off the bleachers to explore the instruments laid out on the gymnasium floor. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n

As they gathered around bulking timpani, shiny new brass and a beautiful electric jazz guitar, a group of boys and girls began to improvise using hand drums and the large gong. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

One tapped out a drum beat. Others chanted in unison, gradually increasing the volume as the beat quickened in tempo. When the beat and chant reached a climax, another student stood ready to strike the gong with a mallet at just the right time.<\/p>\n

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Music Drives Us donation new musical instruments Quincy middle schools<\/p>\n

Music education nonprofit Music Drives Us donated over $65,000 in new instruments to Quincy’s middle school band programs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The students laughed as they took turns repeating the impromptu performance. Then the bell rang, and they were off to lunch. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Squantum Airbnb case: <\/strong>Airbnb operator has defied court order for 2 years, Quincy says. So, what now?<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Peter Blandino covers Quincy for The Patriot Ledger. Contact him at pblandino@patriotledger.com.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible.\u00a0If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Patriot Ledger subscription.\u00a0Here<\/a>\u00a0is our latest offer.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.patriotledger.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keyboards, guitars, amplifiers, alto and soprano saxophones, a stage piano, percussion \u2013 even a gong. These are just some of the 36 brand new musical instruments valued at over $65,000 in all, which were just donated to Quincy’s middle school band program by Ernie Boch Jr.’s Music Drives Us, a nonprofit supporting emerging artists and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2019660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[370955,39915,30218,28769,22220,24144,240459,6297,21866,340625,284334,21741,103020,51971,308568,370951,21739,298114,22764,47944,340623,21800,370956,348078,21738,239343,239347,25658,23759,370952,370957,370950,370954,370953,23152,284335,23239,239344],"class_list":["post-2019659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-k-12","tag-affiliate","tag-ai","tag-and","tag-arts","tag-charity","tag-charity-u0026-philanthropy","tag-eamotion","tag-education","tag-education-methodology-and-innovation","tag-enabled","tag-entertainment","tag-equipment","tag-highlights","tag-innovation","tag-instruction","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-local-news","tag-ma","tag-methodology","tag-music","tag-music-education-u0026-instruction","tag-music-equipment-u0026-technology","tag-news","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-philanthropy","tag-positive","tag-primary","tag-primary-u0026-secondary-schooling-k-12","tag-quincy","tag-schooling","tag-secondary","tag-story","tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","tag-technology","tag-u0026"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/How-Quincy-band-program-got-65000-in-new-musical-instruments-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2019659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2019660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}