For many of us, music is an irreplaceable part of our lives. Because of the high value we place on music, we at CMS remain committed to bringing it to as many people as possible through instruction in our own facilities, afterschool programs in other agencies and performances. We need your help to continue our work. 

This is a special year for CMS - our 85^th anniversary - and our Friends Campaign theme is Support Our Shining Stars! All of our students are Shining Stars in some way! We would like to introduce you to a few.

Danielle has really blossomed in the past several years. She pops up singing everywhere - on CMS recitals, for fundraising events and on television with her school band. A senior, Danielle is busy investigating colleges. Her goal is to earn a doctorate in jazz. She could be a "real" star someday.

Keira and friends are just beginning their musical experiences with Music, My Grownup & Me for 6 month-3 year olds. (The grownups must be hiding!)

Click on Support Our Shining Stars at the top for more Shining Stars. 

Call 884-4887 to make a credit card gift to this year's Friends Campaign or send a check made payable to Community Music School and sent to 415 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222. THANK YOU!

On Saturday, September 12, Chris Boyd, Mike Yanoski and Linda Mabry were in the Kids Village of the Music Is Art Festival. The Kids Village was located behind the Albright Knox Art Gallery surrounded by music on the several stages.

Chris Boyd led music and movement activities for a very active group of young children (and parents) and Mike Yanoski held a drum circle with lots of kids taking turns with the instruments.

In between and during, children dipped small musical instruments (beaters, bells, triangles and more) into washable paints and then painted pictures. They were able to take their art work home in plastic bags to keep any still-wet paint from ending up on clothing.

"Children" of all ages participated with some very willing assistance and guidance from adults. Everything was free and the weather was perfect. Lots of families took advantage of this wonderful outing.

We had a wonderful group of volunteers, led by Mike Alessandra, from Merchants Insurance Group for Day of Caring on August 20. Click on the title of the article to see some candid, or not-so-candid, photos.

They were joined by our own terrific staff: Custodian Dave Dougherty, Office Manager Jennifer Guillow, Secretary Annette Nuding, Bookkeeper Sue Benner and Executive Director Linda Mabry while Receptionist Shawn McCabe manned the phone.

Much of the work continued our efforts to spruce up the exterior of our space. If you haven't driven by to see our expanded front garden, you are really missing a lovely site.

On Day of Caring we scraped and painted the basement windows (on the parking lot side), the railing and most of the lift.

We weeded out the plants behind the parking barrier and cleaned the parking lot.

We scraped, sanded and painted the front railings. We painted some window beds on the first floor, cleaned out the supply room and carried boxes up to the storage areas.

We primed and painted parts of two rooms on the third floor - which had been damaged by water leaks that were fixed a week ago. We also painted the interior front door hunter's green - wait until you come in the next time - it really "pops".

Everyone was tired when the day ended but very happy. Above all, we are sincerely grateful to our excellent volunteers and to the United Way staff and volunteers who organized Day of Caring.

We were part of the first one 17 years ago and we're looking forward to the 18th.