COPPELL, Texas — Students in the Coppell High School band are used to making a lot of noise, but what’s really grabbing people’s attention is what they’ve been up to after class.
“We actually didn’t think it would get as big as it has,” junior percussionist Destiny Wang said.
“Yeah, this is a lot more than I thought,” said junior percussionist Nivi Anandaraj.
It all started when Anandaraj was looking for an organization where she could volunteer and she came across a non-profit called Notelove.
Notelove provides free music lessons to underprivileged kids and when Anandaraj told some of her fellow band mates, it really struck a chord.
“When I learned that other kids didn’t get the same music education, it was really shocking,” Wang said.
“I saw it as a really good opportunity to pay forward all the efforts that all the great teachers I’ve had put into me,” junior percussionist Caleb Brooks said.
Late last year, they started their own chapter of Notelove in Coppell. It’s only the third chapter in the nation (California and Boston have the others) and the first in Texas.
So many kids have signed up for lessons, they’ve had to make a waiting list.
“We’ve gotten more traction than we initially thought and it is a lot of work, but it’s work that is worthwhile and it’s rewarding,” Wang said.
From the organizers to the instructors, it’s entirely student led.
They’re hopeful other band members join the cause because they say music is a lot more than learning notes on a page, it’s a lesson in life.
“All those values music can bring to a person, it can really change their outlook on life, how they live their life,” Anandaraj said.
“It’s rewarding to see that they’re learning something from me and to also see that they enjoy music in the way that I have in the past too,” Wang said.
And they love the sound of that.