Oct. 16, 2007, 10:40AM

Young musicians stage benefit to help other youths make music

By HELEN ERIKSEN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Students in Katy’s Cinco Ranch High School marching band are fortunate to attend a school in an affluent district that strongly supports the arts.

But after hearing about a school in El Paso with scarce financial resources, some Cinco Ranch Cougar band members were inspired to spearhead a fundraiser to help the border town school buy new instruments and equipment for its marching band.

Such a luxury is out of reach for most students at Mountain View High School in El Paso. Band members often struggle to save enough money to purchase basic supplies, according to the school’s band director, Alma Beach.

Despite the disadvantages, the marching band works hard to compete with other bands, Beach said.

Cougar band director Mike Ouellette explained Cinco Ranch’s interest in helping: “Sometimes you don’t realize how fortunate you are until you look at what others have to go through.”

Jessica Ramirez, who plays the French horn in the Mountain View band, said some of the band’s instruments are as old as the school, which opened in 1989. She said the band needs trumpets, French horns and big instruments like tubas and sousaphones.

“We were very touched that someone who does the same that we do is going to help us out in a big way,” the 17-year-old senior said.

Mountain View, part of the Clint Independent School District, is in a poor town populated by migrant farm workers where many homes lack running water. The district, whose school board was recently named the state’s best by the Texas Association of School Boards, serves about 10,000 students at 12 campuses.

Of the 1,060 students at Mountain View, 100 percent qualify for free and reduced-price meals, according to recent school data. The school does not have an orchestra or a choir.

In contrast, Money magazine listed the Cinco Ranch community as one of top 100 places to live in the U.S. in 2007. Home prices range from $150,000 to more than $1 million, and less than 5 percent of the school’s 2,800 students are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches. In Katy, there are about 54,000 students at 45 campuses.

Student suggested event
Ouellette learned about the plight of the Mountain View band when he went to the El Paso area for a band competition two years ago. He shared the information with his students when he returned.

However, plans for a band fundraiser did not take shape until senior Jill Hegedus, a member of the Cougar band leadership team, stepped up. The bass clarinet player raised the idea of a benefit with her team members earlier this year.

The idea was quickly embraced.

The result is that 1,200 band students representing all six Katy high schools will take out their instruments. They will play everything from Porgy and Bess to a musical interpretation of the history of the old K&T Railroad in a showcase that students have dubbed “Paws out for Mountain View Lobo Band.”

The event will take place at Rhodes Stadium, from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.

Beyond filling the 10,000-seat stadium, Cinco Ranch students don’t have a specific fundraising goal. They hope the proceeds will help fill the gap between money the El Paso band gets from its district and the amount needed to give its program a boost. A donation of $2 is suggested, and all proceeds will be sent to the Lobo band.

Beach said her students were astonished at the Katy students’ offer of help.

“Things like this don’t happen every day,” she said. “The students were speechless when I told them how Katy wanted to help us. Afterwards, they got a big smile.”

Ouellette said the Lobo Band does not get as much parental support as do the Katy bands.

Of the band’s 88 members, only three students own their instruments, Beach said, which can cost anywhere from $600 to $2,500.

“It’s a different way of life,” Beach said. “The parents spend long hours working outside the home to support their families and the kids have to earn money to help out at home, plus they have school work to do.”

Lasting effect
Ouellette said the donation could have a more lasting effect, and the new clarinets and trumpets can become instruments of hope.

“There are kids at this school that can’t afford to be in band,” he said. “And research shows that kids involved in the arts are more committed to staying in school. Every instrument that we can put in a child’s hand could help a child stay in school.”

Katy’s executive director of fine arts, Bob Bryant, could not agree more. “Engagement in the fine arts helps students stretch their minds beyond the boundaries of the printed texts, and expands their thinking beyond the rules of what is probable,” he said.

The fundraising idea is catching on in Houston, too. H&H Music of Houston has donated four instruments and has promised to repair any donated used instruments before they are sent to El Paso.

“We are so grateful,” Beach said. “The students are going to write letters of thanks.”

helen.eriksen@chron.com