Positive Notes awarded $10,000 grant!

We're so excited to let you all know that Positive Notes was awarded a $10,000 dollar grant from the McLean Contributionship! The following article was aired in the press:

Positive Notes, a student-run project of the Youth Orchestra of Bucks County, was recently awarded a generous $10,000 grant from the McLean Contributionship for the purchase of musical instruments for Bucks County students participating in Students In Concert, YOBC's music outreach program.

"We're so grateful to the McLean Contributionship board for providing wonderful, new instruments and supporting the work of Students In Concert," says Charlotte Avril, student founder and president of Positive Notes and a flutist with YOBC.

YOBC launched Students In Concert in 2012 to address the needs of students in communities where music education had been scaled back. The intensive, two-semester music outreach program is held every year from October through March, and provides participating students with instruments, weekly music lessons, and performance opportunities. Today, it serves 85 students in the Morrisville School District, the Bristol Township School District and the Bristol Borough School District.

"Playing an instrument is a huge and very positive part of my life, and I am so happy to share that joy with other students," says Avril, a 10th grader from Abington Friends School. She and several of her peers established Positive Notes in 2017 to bolster the fundraising efforts of Student In Concert and increase access to music education. The board includes Pennsbury High School student Ezra Greenberg. Samay Ruparelia from Neshaminy High School, Avril Tully from Village Community School, Noah Vinogradov from Abington Friends School, and Jessica Wang from Council Rock High School South.

Today, Positive Notes not only collects used musical instruments and donations to repair instruments, it is expanding its mission to include music tutoring support and fundraising for ongoing operating expenses of Students In Concert. To make a donation or learn more about Positive Notes, please visit its web site, www.positivenotes.org. "We also invite student musicians who care about access to music education to apply to join our board or become a tutor," says Avril.

Positive Note's parent organization, YOBC, serves approximately 250 students in grades 3–12, representing 25 school districts in Bucks and surrounding counties. Student musicians hone their skills at weekly rehearsals. For more information on YOBC, its music programs, audition requirements and international concert tours, please visit www.yobc.org or email info.yobc@gmail.com.