U.P. woman exposing disadvantaged inner-city youth to art of violin

[Read the full article at DetroitNews.com]

DETROIT — Music changes lives, especially in the lives of Michigan’s youth. In Detroit, where most kids are exposed to commercialized music through ear buds and iPods, very few get the opportunity to hold instrument, let alone learn the power of creating music. One Upper Peninsula woman is making strides in Metro Detroit area to change that with a new program called the ‘Detroit Youth Volume’, exposing students to the violin.

Clara Hardie, who wants to change the stereotype of her ‘Suzuki kids’, started the program five years ago as Detroit’s only free Suzuki violin program for disadvantaged youth. She recruited her students from the Capuchin Soup Kitchen on Detroit’s east side.

To lend a hand, go to detroityouthvolume.org for information on donating by check or an automatic digital monthly payment of support. Hardie says a monthly donation of $5 or $10 a month would “really make a difference for us.”