WESTCHASE \u2014 Cameron Cowans plays saxophone in two bands at Farnell Middle School. Now the eighth grader is trying to make sure other kids get the same chance.<\/p>\n
Cowans, a Boy Scout in Troop 46, built his Eagle Scout project around his love of music. The question was straightforward: How could he get instruments into the hands of kids who can’t afford them?<\/p>\n
His answer: Band Together Westchase \u2014 an instrument donation drive in which he collects used instruments and channels them to low-income schools and youth music programs.<\/p>\n
Cowans has already collected 69 pieces and hopes to surpass 100 at a drop-off event March 28.<\/p>\n
“I have partnered with an organization called Recycled Tunes that will help me get the instruments repaired and connected to students at low-income schools and youth music programs,” Cowans told the Beacon. “Teachers also have the ability to request a specific instrument from Recycled Tunes for a student in need.”<\/p>\n
The haul so far has been eclectic: pianos, guitars, ukuleles, flutes, clarinets, trumpets, saxophones, violins, drums, keyboards, a triangle, an oboe, a mandolin, xylophones, a recorder and even an accordion.<\/p>\n
Cowans said he will accept donations through the end of April and hopes to make it an annual event.<\/p>\n
The idea came to him when he spotted a few old instruments around his house.<\/p>\n
“I knew I could donate (them) and figured that others probably had instruments collecting dust that they could donate, too,” he said.<\/p>\n
The response surprised him. Donors have come from across Tampa Bay, including Pinellas and Pasco counties.<\/p>\n
“I wanted to do a music instrument drive so that people could drop off their instruments and see the impact that they are making on the community,” Cowans said. “They would drive up and see how many kids would be supported with my project by seeing so many instruments.”<\/p>\n
Cowans is on pace to earn Eagle Scout as barely a teenager, a milestone many scouts don’t reach until they’re older or nearly out of high school. His initiative got him there quickly \u2014 and netted a growing pile of instruments along the way.<\/p>\n
“It just shows me that we are one big family and that so many people love music as much as I do,” Cowans said. “My mission started out as ‘Band Together Westchase,’ but has grown into something so much bigger that it should be called ‘Band Together Tampa Bay.'”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WESTCHASE \u2014 Cameron Cowans plays saxophone in two bands at Farnell Middle School. Now the eighth grader is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[93230,93229,93228,276,1407,56166,93234,93235,93231,93232,93233,39219,93236,135,137,136,18072],"class_list":["post-202358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-band-together-westchase","tag-eagle-scouts","tag-farnell-middle-school","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-music","tag-music-industry","tag-music-production","tag-music-technology","tag-musical-instrument","tag-musical-instruments","tag-musicology","tag-performing-arts","tag-sound-production","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-westchase"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}