To the editor: Congratulations to Kris Bowers for her op-ed and short documentary “The Last Repair Shop,” which celebrates the Los Angeles Unified School District's program that provides free musical instruments to students.
I also played in my school bands and it was an important part of my school experience. I learned discipline, because playing requires practice. I gained experience working in a group and made friends in the band.
Most importantly, I discovered that even at age 10, my friends and I could make art. It may not be great art, but as an elementary school music teacher once told me, “It's not about what kids do to the music, it's about what the music does to kids.”
So bravo to Los Angeles Unified for giving all students that opportunity.
Peter Quimby, Santa Barbara
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To the editor: In 1965, my mother, Marilyn Mindell, founded a music bank to benefit the San Mateo Public Schools in the Bay Area. My mom ran an ad campaign to get parents to donate unused instruments they could find in their attics.
Our local newspaper published an article showing parents depositing the instruments in one window of a local bank and children, in another window, removing them to take them home. The cost, as I remember, was $10 a year.
Each summer, the instruments were returned for free repair and the hall closet was filled with violins, violas, cellos, flutes, trumpets and more.
In Los Angeles, the local elementary school had a strong music program. I had heard that the instrument program no longer existed, so it was really a pleasure to read Bowers' article assuring me that it is not just the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra and the Silver Lake Conservatory that teach musical arts to public school children in LA
Susan Polifronio, Los Angeles
