8 minute read
Band of Angels
By Abby Shepherd
Music student gets wings through Band of Angels
Advertisement
School of Music senior Oscar Haro has been passionate about music for nearly his whole life.
“I’m Mexican, and growing up I would always hear banda music, so I was always attracted to the trumpet,” Haro said.
When he was a sixth-grader at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School in Lawrence, Haro decided to join the band and take up the trumpet, despite peer pressure to do otherwise. Haro used the trumpet he rented in middle school all the way to his junior year at Free State High School. By then, his trumpet was nearly falling apart with an entire valve missing.
Things soon changed for Haro. His band teacher recommended he attend that year’s Prairie Winds Festival, an annual gathering organized by the KU School of Music for high school musicians. It was there he met Steve Leisring, professor of trumpet at the KU School of Music for 20 years.
“[Leisring] had never seen a kid play on a trumpet like that before,” Haro said. “He also offered me free lessons because I couldn’t afford those either,” Haro said.
Throughout the next year, Haro prepared for auditions for the KU School of Music. Leisring recognized Haro’s need for a new instrument, and recommended a tool for him to use — Band of Angels.
Founded in 2011 through a partnership between Kansas City business Meyer Music and WDAF-TV Fox 4, Band of Angels pairs deserving students with instruments at no cost to them.
Haro applied for a new trumpet and was successful.
“As a kid, that blew my mind,” Haro said. “That trumpet was pristine, silver-plated, the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen.”
Continued on page 14
Continued from page 13
The simple act of giving someone a new instrument can have so many benefits, Leisring said.
“Once Oscar had an instrument he could actually play, he started to see what the possibilities were,” Leisring said. “It gives them confidence. Just because they can’t afford a high quality instrument, when they do have one, it really makes a difference.”
The roots of Band of Angels
Mike Meyer, manager of Meyer Music, said year after year he saw a need for Band of Angels in the community. Every year elementary, middle, and high schoolers would come in to rent an instrument for their school band, only to be unable to afford it.
“That was always gut-wrenching, and I was the one who would have to sit across the table from them and say ‘I’m sorry I can’t help you,’” Meyer said.
Nearly 13 years ago, WDAF-TV Fox 4 called Meyer, asking for suggestions on how to help save the local arts. After initial brainstorming, Meyer suggested a program where people could donate used instruments. Meyer Music would repair them if necessary, and then those instruments would be donated to students in financial need.
So far, over 3,000 instruments have been donated to kids across the country. Band of Angels also started a scholarship program to send students to summer music camps.
“I was shocked that the community thought this was as important as I did,” Meyer said. “I thought this was my little pet project, and maybe we’d give 50 instruments a year and that would be a great thing. I had no idea it was going to resonate the way that it did, and so many people thought music was this important.”
Meyer said the group’s central mission is to level the playing field so students do have the education and tools necessary for success in music and beyond.
Some kids are already at a disadvantage, and Band of Angels wants to focus on the “quality of the match,” according to Meyer.
“When a kid from an inner-city school starts music, many times they have never owned their own instrument, and they are borrowing one from a school,” Meyer said. “When that kid goes to audition for a scholarship at KU, they’re auditioning against a kid that has had their own instrument, that has had private lessons.”
Meyer sees the music camp scholarships as a hugely important aspect of the group’s mission. In the scholarship’s first year, about five students were sent to KU’s Midwestern Music Camp. Now as many as 50 attend the camp each year, thanks to financial assistance.
Students have told Meyer that music camp gave them a place to belong, as well as lifelong friends. Meyer also said the volume of music learned in a week at camp is life-changing.
“What you do is take a kid out of a classroom where they might learn four songs over a semester, and you put them in a camp where everyone else finds music as exhilarating as they do, and now they learn those four songs in a week,” Meyer said.
What Band of Angels has given Oscar Haro
Summer camp and the new instrument were a game changer for Haro. Since being accepted into KU, he has enjoyed many opportunities through the School of Music.
In 2022, Haro traveled with the pep band across the country for the NCAA tournament, visiting Fort Worth, Texas, Chicago and New Orleans.
In September of 2022, Haro even traveled to Italy with the university’s Wind Ensemble. He traces all of these opportunities back to the original opportunity given to him by Leisring and Band of Angels.
“If all of these people are helping me, then I have to give it my all,” Haro said. “I’m incredibly grateful to them for giving me a shot, especially Steve.”
Haro recently purchased a new trumpet, after getting so much use out of the one donated by Band of Angels. He also tutors younger students, currently teaching about eight, and up to 30 in the summer.
Continued on page 16
Continued from page 15
He said he feels like he is planting seeds in their minds, by helping them realize what they’re capable of through music.
“There’s more to life than just going to school or playing a sport,” Haro said. “You can do music, and it can take you so much further than you’ve ever imagined. In our lifetime, so many people helped us and to do the same for the next generation of kids is the way it should be.”
Students who go above and beyond in music, like Haro, are likely to accomplish a lot, Leisring said. Haro travels to places like Chicago and Dallas to see professional musicians regularly, to become more immersed. His dream is to become a professional trumpet player.
Leisring described how a month ago he visited Memphis to see international performers, including famous Cuban trumpet player Arturo Sandoval. Sandoval had actually met Haro earlier during his trip to Dallas.
Leisring thanked Sandoval for making such an impression on Haro, and the two made a video together to send to the student.
“Oscar is one of these students who goes above and beyond,” Leisring said. “He is a picture-perfect example of what Band of Angels can accomplish.”
Haro has chosen music as his life path, but many others involved in band or orchestra do not do the same. This isn’t important, Leisring said. His students have gone on to become businessmen, lawyers and doctors.
“One of my former students is an accountant at a firm in Kansas City, and he told me he’s able to figure out complex tax problems in an easier way than his colleagues because of the problem-solving he learned in music,” Leisring said.
Whether or not a student decides to become a professional musician, an engineer, a coach, or a politician, the help Band of Angels can provide is universal.
“I think people need to see more of the results,” Leisring said. “People hear about the students getting the instruments, but following up on students who got them four to five years ago is incredible. I think people don’t realize the difference it makes for a lifetime.”
How you can help
Band of Angels accepts instruments regardless of their condition, and each one is refurbished as needed. Those interested in donating instruments can drop them off at any Meyer Music location — the closest to KU is located at 1890 W. 135th St.
Most instruments are accepted, excluding pianos, organs, keyboards and drum sets. Guitars that are donated are sent on to Guitars for Troops, a nonprofit which distributes guitars to active-duty soldiers.
Cash donations to Band of Angels also go to summer music camp scholarships, a helpful experience for any student interested in music, as illustrated in Haro’s story.
In order to get a donated instrument or scholarship, students must fill out a simple application on the group’s website at https://bandofangels.org/instrumentapplication/.
In terms of Band of Angels’ future, Meyer only sees more possibilities.
During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Midwestern Music Camp was moved completely online. Usually, 300 students attend in person. That year, the virtual camp drew about 1,950 students from 46 states and five countries.
“We hope to grow outside of Kansas City and do this nationwide,” Meyer said. “We’re simply trying to provide students a place to belong in school, a life skill and something they can enjoy forever.”
The relationship between the University of Kansas and Band of Angels will only continue to thrive, according to Meyer.
“KU’s a really special place, and they’ve embraced me and the Band of Angels,” Meyer said.
Band of Angels
BY THE NUMBERS
Between October 2021 and October 2022, Band of Angels filled the most requests with these instruments:
During that same time period, these instruments were donated to Guitars for Troops:
Data contributed by Band of Angels
16 3/4 violins 14 flutes
13 trumpets 11 trombones
17
clarinets
17
alto saxophones
14
4/4 violins
41 acoustic guitars 14 electric guitars
5
keyboards
17
base guitars
5
trombones
