La Grande High School Band receives Wildhorse Foundation grant for new instruments
By Garrett Christensen on Tuesday, May 28th, 2024 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – Out with the old and in with the new. The La Grande School District recently received a $20,000 dollar grant to purchase new instruments for the La Grande High School Band program. As many of the band’s current instruments, particularly the larger ones, are starting to show their age, the funds will go toward purchasing new, replacement, instruments for students. As explained by La Grande High School Music Teacher Alex Justice:
“Most of the instruments at the high school are thirty to forty plus years old, and have outlived their shelf life, especially some of the larger instruments like the tubas and baritone saxophones. So, we were looking into getting funds to help replenish that. Those instruments are extremely spendy, and it’s hard to purchase those items without support, and typically without applying for grants.”
According to Justice, a new, baritone saxophone (of which the program’s current one is 45 years old) could cost upwards of $6,500 dollars, while a tenor saxophone could cost upwards of $3,500 dollars. Other instruments up for replacement include a new tuba and base clarinet, among others. As further explained by Justice:
“We’ve gotten to the point where the instruments really need to be replaced because they’re causing problems for kids and making it frustrating for students to play. Obviously, we want music to be accessible to students and we want them to not have to deal with instruments that are not functioning properly.”
Other members of the school district assisted in writing the grant, including Lindsey Meinhard. With the grant accepted, the district hopes to have the new instruments ordered as soon as the money officially arrives and have them ready for students by the start of the 2024-2025 school year at the latest.
