Guitar teacher hopes idea strikes a chord

SUPPLIED PHOTO Enlarge Image

Guitars for Kids WPG founder McCurdy performs with some of his students.

These days some kids think a guitar is made of plastic and has four buttons.

Ash McCurdy is trying to change that.

The 36-year-old Winnipegger has started the non-profit organization Guitars for Kids WPG to get guitars into the hands of children who want to learn to play the instrument but can't afford to purchase their own.

"I've been a local guitar teacher in the North End for years both privately and with non-profit organizations and we usually supply the guitars for the kids, but when they go home they have nothing to practise on," says McCurdy, who has worked with the Boys and Girls Club of Winnipeg and the Manitoba Metis Federation over the years. "You get a few kids who have talent and want to take it to the next level but they can't because they have nothing at home and I have to just end up re-teaching them the same thing every week."

He started the project a year ago and just launched the website guitarsforkidswpg.webs.com to collect applications and donations for the program, which began with a donation of about 20 guitars from Greg's Music.

McCurdy, luthier Darcy Bunio and Tim Clark set up the guitars and surprised students with them.

"I'm still in contact with them and they still play, so I know it works. It proves they'll keep going with it if they have the instruments in their hands," McCurdy says.

He is concentrating on helping lower-income families in the North End, where he lives, the West End, Point Douglas and Elmwood. He would like to include complete kits that include a guitar, a tuner, picks and a tutorial book, along with an intro lesson.

Acoustic guitars are preferred since electrics require an amp and cable, but McCurdy will accept any unwanted gear and pass it on.

Something else he would like to be passed on is the information program recipients learn. He hopes any child who receives a guitar will teach someone else.

"The idea is they become a mentor and every student becomes a guitar teacher. Hopefully it spreads and passes on and turns into a lifelong passion like it did for me. Some of these kids could still be playing guitar when they're 50, so that's what I get out of it, passing on the love of guitar," says McCurdy, who has played in local bands like Buckethitch and Mr. McCurdy and was a co-organizer of music festival Corefest, which ran from 1992 to 2000.

"These days there is so much for kids to do at home with computers and video games, but to actually sit down and play an instrument is old school. And studies have shown learning a musical instrument can help them in school with higher grades and can help develop better social skills."

He hopes to collect and distribute 100 guitars over the next year then re-evaluate the program. Anyone wishing to receive a guitar or make a donation can contact McCurdy through the website or at ashleymccurdy@hotmail.com

rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 21, 2010 D3