Let that dusty old trumpet do some good

Is the clarinet you played in the marching band gathering dust in a closet? Is your grandfather's trumpet abandoned in the attic? The Charlotte Symphony has a better use for them.

The orchestra is launching Instruments for Kids, a program that will supply instruments to students who can't afford them. To pave the way, an anonymous donor made a financial gift that will pay for fixing up "dozens and dozens and dozens" of long-neglected instruments, says Jonathan Martin, the orchestra's executive director.

The orchestra has plenty of use for them. Nearly 200 young people play in the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestras, a subsidiary of the professional orchestra. The orchestra also spearheads a music program at Winterfield Elementary in east Charlotte, and symphony players help coach orchestra and band members at Northwest School of the Arts. For many of the students, the cost of instruments or private music lessons is a stumbling block.

"We're using music to change kids' lives," Martin says. "You can't start until you have an instrument."

All the orchestra needs now is instruments, and that's where you come in. If you clear that unused fiddle or clarinet out of the house, you can get a tax deduction in addition to knowing that you're helping add music to a young person's day. You can drop it off at any Charlotte Symphony concert or at the orchestra's ticket kiosk in the atrium at Two Wells Fargo uptown, 301 S. Tryon St. For details, call 704-972-2000 or go to www.charlottesymphony.org.

Winterfield Elementary photo: Todd Sumlin