Music Program Gets Instrumental Gift

The sound of music just got a little sweeter for the orchestras and bands of Agoura High School, the recipients of a $40,000 trove of new musical instruments donated by a cable music channel and a local cable provider.

The gift of oboes, trombones, violins and other instruments will revitalize a music program that depends heavily on donations from corporations and booster groups, said Donald Zimring, the deputy superintendent of the Las Virgenes Unified School District.

“I don’t know any district that buys musical instruments anymore,” Zimring said. “Funding for music and arts in normal district budgets is very low. The gift is tremendous.”

The donation, part of VH1’s Save the Music program, is one of dozens that the national cable music channel has made in the past year.

In an era when many public schools do not even have full-time music teachers (although Agoura High has two), VH1 teams up with local cable providers to buy instruments to revive music programs. In this case the partner was Falcon Cable, which serves Malibu, Calabasas and Agoura Hills.

Agoura High’s students sometimes have had to share instruments during lessons, said Art Maulsby, a spokesman for Falcon Cable.

In 1998, VH1 and its cable partners donated musical instruments worth $11.5 million to 112 programs, said Ariana Urbont, a spokeswoman for MTV Networks, which owns VH1.