MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS WANTED PROJECT BAND AID STARTED FOR NEW SCHOOL RIO NORTE.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

VALENCIA - When Rio Norte Junior High School opens in August, Principal John Krinkle needs to be ready for his musically inclined students.

He has hired a band teacher and set aside a supply of wax paper and combs.

With a $1 million budget to buy school supplies, Krinkle has found it tough to cover every possible interest that requires equipment. He mentioned the shortfall to a friend on the Santa Clarita Valley Education Foundation, and she thought up a way to help. She wants to collect those dusty band instruments that are taking up space in community residents' closets and garages.

Krinkle got a surprise Thursday night when he attended the foundation's grant ceremony. Pulling him out of the crowd, Jane Raleigh of Borders Books handed him the first flier for Project Band Aid, a drive sponsored by the store to collect new and used band instruments for soon-to-be-opened Rio Norte Junior High.

``People can bring their instruments to Borders through the month of August and we'll watch the band grow,'' said Raleigh. ``This is so important because it asks for no money, no sacrifice other than helping someone by going through your closet. We've already had a lot of people say they had instruments to donate. This will make a big difference.

``We would like to see this continue and help each school as it opens,'' she said. ``I'm going to be talking to everybody and get the word out any way I can. We'll keep collecting them and deliver them to the school in time to open.''

Raleigh said future beneficiaries of the company's program could include Golden Valley and West Ranch high schools and Rancho Pico Junior High.

Krinkle said Rio Norte, which will open with 1,260 students, needs the instruments because beginning band members often don't have their own or are still exploring music.

``They're experimenting in class, finding out what they are good at playing, then they need to practice,'' the principal said. ``I think band gives a kid the ability to develop an interest or gift. A lot of kids don't realize what gifts they're blessed with. Junior high is where you find a place to start or give them a skill to explore and move forward.''

The foundation's president, Terry Martin, said he will be passing along his childhood clarinet and has asked some of his business clients for donations from their collections.

``I have a clarinet that I got in fourth grade, which I played through high school, then my daughter played for two years,'' he said. ``Now, someone else will have the opportunity to play it.''

For information on Project Band Aid, call Raleigh at [phone].

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Photo:

Jane Raleigh, center, of Borders Books is flanked by Rio Norte Junior High Principal John Krinkle, right, and Terry Martin, chairman of the foundation to collect donated musical instruments at Borders for the use of new schools in the region.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News