Music is a vital part of education encompassing many valuable areas of development including sequential learning, academia, emotional development, and physical development. Cy-Hope recently donated nearly ten thousand dollars to the school district to support music education.
- $3,900 for an initiative to provide clinicians and master classes for band, choir and orchestra students at secondary schools with 60 percent of students qualifying for free or reduced lunches;
- $2,649.47 to develop a “Science Rocks!” curriculum integration initiative that will serve all 53 elementary schools; and
- $3,000 to support perpetuating the annual Elementary Choral Festival, a memorable performance experience for more than 300 fifth-grade students at the Berry Center.
Dr. Betty Devine, a member of the Cy-Hope Advisory Board and the pastor of worship ministry at The Foundry United Methodist Church, was instrumental in allocating the grant money for CFISD students. A former school choir director, Dr. Devine organized multiple concerts to benefit the Cy-Hope music initiatives:
- The Houston Symphonic Band, directed by Fred Angerstein, held two concerts at The Foundry last year, collecting a love offering to benefit Cy-Hope on both occasions. Donations gathered at their September 28th performance of “Symphonic Dances,” also at The Foundry, will support the next cycle of music programs. The group’s next Cy-Hope benefit concert “Christmas in the Air” will take place at The Foundry on December 20th at 8 pm.
- Ticket sales generated funds at two “Music Beyond Words” concerts organized by Nitish Kulkarni, instrumental pop musician and composer who is a former band student of Cy-Fair High School. These performances featured past and present band students.
- The University of Houston Concert Chorale, directed by Dr. Betsy Weber, presented a concert May 11 at The Foundry, receiving a love offering supporting the Cy-Hope music initiatives.
Dr. Devine said she has already begun raising money for music programs for 2014-2015. “I have had such admiration for public school music teachers, and I am so aware at this point in my life of the power of music,” said Dr. Devine, who also serves as the artistic director of the Houston Choral Society. “I see what it can do in the lives of children and adults. [Raising this money] makes me feel that I am here for a reason, and the reason is not for me. I want to be able to leave this place a better place than what it was.”
No matter if a child is the next music superstar or simply singing in the shower, extensive research shows that music education is
propitious.
