As every musician knows, strings on stringed instruments wear out. And while professional musicians discard their used strings when they are no longer at peak performance, aspiring musicians in underprivileged schools often are unable to practice because they cannot afford to replace broken strings. The mission of the String Bank is to ensure that all music students have the strings they need. Founded in 2016 by Jonathan Sussman and John Mietus, students at the USC Thornton School of Music, the nonprofit String Bank is building a national network of orchestras willing to collect and donate their strings, and schools in need of resources for their music departments. The orchestras send their violin, viola, cello, and bass strings to the String Bank’s centralized location, and the organization distributes the strings to schools in need. Donating individuals and organizations include Sarah Chang, USC Thornton, Cleveland Institute of Music, Northwestern University, University of Iowa, and UCLA, and recipients include schools from Los Angeles and San Diego to Philadelphia and Sewell, New Jersey. To find out more, visit http://www.thestringbank.org/.
Posted June 20, 2017
