Eddie Van Halen Helping Bring Music To Kids

(hennemusic) Eddie Van Halen is among the artists sharing their thoughts and support of The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports music education in public schools across the United States.

The Foundation donates new and refurbished musical instruments to underserved schools in an effort to give youngsters the many benefits of music education, help them to be better students and inspire creativity and expression through playing music.

To date, the organization has donated over $20 million worth of instruments to over 1,400 schools, including a batch of 75 guitars Van Halen donated in 2012 and more gear in 2013 beyond his ongoing financial support.

"Can you imagine a world without music? It's a must. It has to be taught," says Van Halen in a new video as the Foundation received a National Music Education Award at the Americans For The Arts gala in New York this week. "I wanted to give back to the community, and especially kids in need who want an instrument but didn't have the opportunity I had.

"I wanted to donate instruments because I have so many guitars and nobody would take them� until we found Mr. Holland's Opus. It wasn't too long after that that I came to one of the schools and there's a kid playing one of my guitars. It makes you want to cry, you know? It was really that emotional for me." Watch the video here.

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