NEW ORLEANS — At Sophie B. Wright School, the writing is on the wall, literally: "Music is not what I do it’s who I am."
Trombones, trumpets, saxophones; instruments can be expensive and while plenty of musicians borrow the equipment, five students in the school's band of these students now have their own.
"This is real big, I'm really, really excited," one student said.
That's thanks to Leslie Cooper.
The local mother and musician has been giving away instruments to children for about eight years now but for her, this movement started even earlier with, her son, Doyle. He was 10-years-old when he asked for a brass instrument.
"He wanted to play music and I couldn’t afford a horn," Cooper said. "And somebody gave us a trumpet."
Cooper said she remembers the joy in his eyes. Five years later, her son was able to pass that trumpet on to another kid who wanted to play music. Doyle may have written the intro, but Leslie makes sure the song plays on.
"They just keep coming to me and I just keep finding homes for them," Cooper said.
Leslie calls this program "Pass It On" because she’s doing just that and encouraging other musicians to do the same.
"Every kid that I’ve been able to give an instrument to, I see what it means to them," Cooper said. "These kids are my heart and if I can help a kid play music or if they want to play music they’re my heart."
Cooper said she wishes she could pull up in front of a school with a bus load of instruments but for now her car will make do. And instead of wheeling in instruments in by the dozens, each student grabs a case.
"They’re our future and if we don’t take care of that and nurture that we’re going to be in bad shape," Cooper said.
"If somebody would do just a little something, just a little something then we put all those little somethings together and the next thing we know we got a brass band," she said.
At rehearsal, students said they don't take her work for granted.
"This is not something that anyone comes across everyday. It’s big, it’s big, it’s definitely big," one student said.
"We don’t have a lot of Leslies in New Orleans, unfortunately. A person like Leslie, I think of her as a hero," another said.
"I’m just doing what we’re supposed to do, what any person should do. I don’t see myself as a hero," Cooper said.
But we do; She's one of our Neighborhood Heroes.
If you have instruments you aren’t using, you can donate them to leslie cooper with pass it on: Tradjazzmama@gmail.com or visit passitonnola.com