Barry Fey, head of House of Blues (HOB) Concerts, announced last summer that $.50 from every ticket sold to events over the summer at Red Rocks and Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre would be donated to Denver Public Schools to bolster the district’s supply of musical instruments and to support music instruction.

More than $50,000 was raised. Fey and House of Blues will be thanked publicly at the Dec. 19th Board of Education meeting (900 Grant St.) at 5 p.m.

Superintendent Jerry Wartgow said money donated from House of Blues Concerts would be routed through the DPS Foundation, and that 100 percent of the donation would be spent on instrument purchases and supporting music instruction.

“We believe that every student who wants to participate in music should be allowed to do so - and to make it an integral part of their academic life,” said Fey when he first made the announcement. “The benefits from music instruction are clear - studies have shown that students involved in music have increased attendance rates and improved achievement. We hope the donations will help greatly expand the number of students exposed to music instruction throughout DPS.”

DPS currently has no budget to purchase new instruments although some individual schools put money aside for instruments and sheet music. The district budget for instrument repair is just $38,000 - an amount that does not stretch very far to maintain 6,000 instruments. (The regular re-padding of a woodwind instrument runs about $200 per instrument.)

Currently, out of 84 elementary schools in DPS, one is staffed with a full-time instrumental music teacher, two are staffed with a half-time teacher, and two are staffed with a quarter-time teacher. Out of 19 middle schools, nine schools have a full-time instrumental music teacher; seven schools have a half-time teacher, one has a quarter-time, and two schools have no instrumental music program. The middle school at the Denver School of the Arts has two full time instrumental music teachers. All 11 regular DPS high schools including the Career Education Center have a full-time instrumental music teacher; the high school at the Denver School of the Arts has two full-time instrumental music teachers.