The recovery has begun in the State of Texas following the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. It made us happy to receive this beautiful photo from band director John of his student Yadira who was all smiles after receiving her replacement musical instrument from Music Rising.
There is a lot more work to be done and we thank you all for your continued support and donations.
Click here to make a donation.
Your contribution is greatly appreciated.
During this season of giving we’re pleased to announce that Yamaha Music USA is partnering with the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation and Music Rising to provide new musical instruments to schools affected by natural disasters.
Share your story and Yamaha will donate an instrument.
A Night of Storytelling True tales of the biggest icons in music from Elvis to Dylan as told by producers, rock writers, roadies and others who were there.
Featuring Mike Stoller, Dr. Demento, Artie butler, Felice Mancini, Artie Ripp and more!
November 11th at 8:00PM
Tickets are $20.
Special VIP Tickets – $100
Includes preferred seating, wine tasting and meet and greet at Upper West Restaurant, special gift bags courtesy of Shout! Factory and Rock Beat Records.
At end of Ultraviolet (Light My Way), Bono highlighted the ONE campaign, appreciation of the best of America, and then led into recognition of The Edge and Music Rising.
Bono (on tree stage, Edge on main stage):
“Ah, well… Tonight here in new Orleans we have a local hero. And if you’ll indulge me, this local hero happens to be in our band and his name is The Edge, and he is right there. (Applauds)
Some of you might know, but after Katrina, he couldn’t bear to live with the idea of you people without your musical instruments, without your rhythms, so he set up Music Rising to bring those musical instruments back to the city just as the floods were leaving. That man there. Our local hero. (Applauds)
Now he’s doing the same in Texas and Florida, working on that. Is that right, The Edge?”
As we continue to raise donations to help replace the instruments lost in schools affected by the devastation of the recent hurricanes, we are pleased to share this note of gratitude from Linda Fletcher, Director of Fine Arts, Pasadena ISD in Texas.
“There have been many tears shed over the past month as a result of Harvey, but none more welcome and beautiful than those each time I read an email from Music Rising helping our students get music instruments back in their lives after Harvey’s devastation. Now, more than ever, they need their instrument and Music Rising has made that possible for over 50 of our students. On behalf of the Pasadena Independent School District, our amazing band and orchestra directors and our precious students, please let me express our unspeakable gratitude for the generosity of Music Rising.
As a suburban district, we are often overlooked as one that serves a community of hard working families who even before the storm often struggled to make ends meet, much less find the financial means to allow their children to participate in the Fine Arts, particularly band and orchestra where obtaining a musical instrument can be daunting. Pasadena ISD, its administration and school board all believe that the Arts, and music in particular, are important building blocks in overall education. PISD is now in our 11th year as one of the Best Communities for Music Education and a large part of that is the tremendous financial investment PISD has made in making instruments available to students from every financial situation. Our annual rental policy is only $30.00 per year and when that is not feasible, we make arrangements to underwrite their rentals. The rental fees go solely toward repair and maintenance of the instruments and purchasing additional instruments when possible. After teaching elementary music and Intermediate & High School choir for 30 years in PISD, I have been blessed to serve as the Director of Fine Arts for the past 12 years. Our Fine Arts faculty now consists of 299 teachers and directors serving over 90% of our student population in K-12.
We are blessed to have been directed to you during this time of need. Words are often incapable of expressing our true feelings but in His wisdom, God gave us music. Thank you for helping us keep the music playing in our schools!
Linda Fletcher
Director of Fine Arts
Pasadena ISD
Pasadena, TX 77502″
A message from Music Rising co-founder The Edge. Together we can restore the music.
Please click ‘Donate‘ to contribute. Thank you for your continued support.
On August 12th Music Rising (www.musicrising.org) supported Notes for Notes in Detroit, a non profit organization that designs, equips and staffs after-school recording studios offering youth the opportunity to explore, create and record music for free. Music Rising was honored with a Diamond Record. Music Rising’s support will provide professional instruments and full recording facility opportunities for Detroit youth, a city which had declared bankruptcy. Photo credit: Mitch Albom Charities. Hi res image available upon request.
Richwood High School and Richwood Middle School in Nicholas County, West Virginia to Benefit from Donation
Charleston, West Virginia – (August 9, 2016) – Music Rising, the organization founded in 2005 after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina which has since gone on to become the music industry’s disaster relief fund, announced its generous support of $108,000 worth of instruments to help restore the music programs at schools that were destroyed by the recent floods in West Virginia. The support will help rebuild the music programs at Richwood High School and Richwood Middle School in Nicholas County, West Virginia. These schools lost everything in the floods that devastated the area on June 23 and 24, 2016. Music Rising partnered with the West Virginia Division of Culture and History to provide assistance. The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, which administers Music Rising, was contacted as one of the national organizations the commission had originally reached out to for help. The foundation immediately partnered with Music Rising and received a very positive response from the organization.“This is another remarkable milestone for Music Rising,” said U2’s the Edge, co-founder of Music Rising. “We hope that through our support we are able to foster future generations of students who will have the chance to experience the remarkable benefits which come from a vibrant music education program within their school. Keeping instruments in the hands of our youth plays a pivotal role in their futures on many levels.”“West Virginia public schools have strong music programs, supported by certified music teachers and school administrations who understand the value of arts education in schools” said Randall Reid-Smith, West Virginia Division of Culture and History commissioner. “As soon as I heard about the damage, I began hearing from music teachers and band directors who knew, even without seeing their schools, that the loss of music instruments was serious.”
Continue reading “MUSIC RISING HELPS RESTORE DEVASTATED MUSIC PROGRAMS”
In 2006, New Orleanians were ready for the Superdome to reopen, and on Sept. 14, the excitement multiplied exponentially when U2 and Green Day announced that they would perform as part of the pre-game festivities Monday, Sept. 25 before the Saints played the first game back against the Falcons on Monday Night Football.
“The Saints are Coming” has been part of the team’s game day since Green Day and U2 debuted it that night, but it was a risky choice. The song wasn’t well known, and when Scottish punk band The Skids released the song in 1979, it was about a friend of singer Richard Jobson, who joined the British Army and was killed in Northern Ireland.
U2 and GreenDay The Saints Are Coming – LIVE – New Orleans Then-Saints executive vice president Rita Benson LeBlanc told NOLA.com|The Times-Picayune in 2011, “Listening to the original, I had to cringe.” All she heard was “an extremely harsh and barely understandable punk song.”
Continue reading “When Music Rising Re-Opened the Superdome”
The Edge Reflects on Charity’s Decade of Growth Into Disaster Relief Organization for Musical Communities Nationwide
10 years ago Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, leaving behind a trail of destruction that The Edge of U2 would soon witness firsthand during a visit to New Orleans’ hard hit 9th Ward. Moved by the devastation suffered by the local musical community, Edge teamed with legendary producer Bob Ezrin, Gibson Guitars, MusiCares and the Guitar Center Foundation to provide immediate aid to the musicians whose lives and livelihoods had sustained the most damage when the levees broke. In short order, efforts including donations of net proceeds from the sales of Gibson and Epiphone Music Rising special edition guitars and the providing of musical instruments to professionals whose gear was destroyed in the storm were implemented. In a PSA at the time, Edge explained the helplessness he would have felt in the face of such overwhelming loss as Music Rising replaced thousands of instruments in what would ultimately be the first phase of its still ongoing and continually expanding mission.
Continue reading “EDGE REFLECTS ON MUSIC RISING”