By Jennifer De Freitas, Media and Journalism Advisor

Sinclair Laird Elementary School students unpack brand new musical instruments on Wednesday, February 8, 2012, thanks to a $5,000 Band-Aid Grant.

Students at Sinclair Laird Elementary School in Park Extension were excited to open seven boxes filled with musical instruments on Wednesday, February 8, 2012. These brand new instruments come courtesy of a $5,000 Band-Aid Grant from the Toronto-based foundation MusiCounts, which is associated with The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS)—known as Canada’s music education charity.

Parent volunteer and freelance percussionist Joanna Peters and music teacher Helene Diguer went above and beyond the call of duty and came together to apply for the Band-Aid Grant at the end of the 2010—2011 school year after realizing that the school had a limited variety of musical instruments.

Some of the instruments students will now be able to hone their musical talents on during their music classes include djembes, handheld shakers, recorders, thunder and xylophones. The instruments will also be used in the school’s spring concert and in Peters’ weekly Percussion Workshop at the B.A.S.E.—the school’s daycare program.

Peters began the Percussion Workshop with the nearly 25 daycare students last November making durable percussion instruments out of recycled materials. The recycled-object instruments will be used with the brand-new musical instruments so that the students have a variety of sounds to play with.

Click below to watch students playing the djembes during the unveiling of the brand new musical instruments.

Sinclair Laird-Musical Instruments

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CTV Montreal will air a story on Sinclair Laird Elementary School’s $5,000 Band-Aid Grant on Sunday, March 11 (6 p.m.) and Monday, March 12 (noon) on the Power of One segment. After it airs, the report will be posted on http://montreal.ctv.ca/.