Access of Music Education to Underprivileged Youth

The Laguna Creek High School Band Booster Club, Inc., (BBC) is the primary source of financial and logistical support for the Laguna Creek High School Marching Band and Color Guard (LCHS Band). The LCHS Band is the largest and most competitive marching unit in the Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD). The booster club’s mission is to ensure that every student has the resources and physical and mental support needed to achieve their fullest potential in the band and color guard program.   BBC does not charge an administration cost and is wholly supported by past and present band parent volunteers.  100% of all funds are used to provide the BBC benefits the students.  The BBC provides instructional staff to support the 2 band directors, meals, materials and other items as needed to ensure the performers are able to engage at the best of their ability.

Although most of the instruments accessible to the LCHS Band needs replacement, the funds will be used to purchase 27 new instruments to replace existing instruments, which are over 30 years old and past it usability.  The use of the instrument and participation of the program is available free of charge with an encouraged donation for participation.  Last school year, only 32% of the participants paid the donation.  This program provides opportunities for Laguna Creek High School students to compete with other schools throughout the nation and removes economic barriers to access musical performance opportunities for students from economically disadvantaged communities.  

Currently, every performance is a risk. We don’t have a stadium or performing arts center, so most performances are held off site at other schools. Our students always carry repair equipment because their instruments break so often. Yet, there are times when they don’t have the part or the skills to fix a broken instrument. When this happens, that student still performs to maintain the visual effect, but the instrument becomes a prop that produces no sound. It is common for a student to practice their music for months, and ultimately only pretend to play.  

We persevered by repairing instruments during the year, fundraising to buy used instruments, having students share instruments, and borrowing from other programs. For example, four students play the baritone saxophone, but we only have two instruments. One is an entry-level instrument that is 30 years old. It has far exceeded its lifespan, but we keep fixing it because we can’t afford a new one. We borrowed the other one from Creekside Christian Church. Because the baritone saxophone is used in both the concert band and jazz ensemble, two students share each instrument. This grant will purchase two new baritone saxophones so that we can retire our original instrument and only two students will have to share instead of four. This will double the practice time available to each student.  

In another example, three students play the bassoon, and we have a fourth student who wants to play but can’t because we don’t have an instrument. Our original bassoon was broken and when our band director arrived at LCHS in 2007. It was repaired then but has been in the shop for repairs every year for the past 16 years. We have paid more for repairs than the cost to buy a new one. We purchased a second bassoon a few years ago with donations, and we borrow a third bassoon from Toby Johnson Middle School. We hope to purchase two bassoons to retire our old bassoon and provide an instrument to the fourth student who wants to play. The LCHS Band is one of the largest bands in our area, and our students have a more demanding rehearsal and performance schedule than most bands in our region. Old, entry-level instruments are harder to play, and students compensate musically to make the instruments work. For example, they lose critical warm up time at competitions, because when one instrument suddenly breaks, the entire band must adjust.  

The EGUSD commits no dedicated funding for instruments or instrument repair. When we receive funds, it is small one-time funding that we use for instrument repair because we can repair multiple instruments instead of buying one new one. This is how we make it through one more year as a band. However, we spend $12,500 a year on repairs, so we remain locked in a cycle of repairing old instruments instead of buying new ones. 

Your donation will help us break out of that cycle. By retiring our most damaged instruments, we can reduce our annual repair bill to $2,500. We will be able to allocate funds specifically for new instruments for the first time in the history of the LCHS Band.