Providing Instruments for the Next Generation (PING) Works to Bring Music to Local Youth
Making music is an artform as old as humanity, but many school children and their parents today lack the opportunities to buy or even rent a musical instrument. Local nonprofit Providing Instruments for the Next Generation (PING) sought a pitch-perfect solution to the issue. They operate several programs to provide band and orchestra instruments, accessories, instruction, and ongoing mentoring for musically inclined elementary through high school students.
“PING started when some parents were attending a District 97 Oak Park Elementary concert and saw on the stage that the community wasn’t being represented,” says Michelle Dybal, PING’s executive director and a 30-year resident of Oak Park. “They felt there wasn’t enough diversity on the stage yet…and they wanted to dig in and figure out why that was.”
While not a performer herself, Dybal has a long-time appreciation for supporting music and musicians. She was the arts editor for the Wednesday Journal for five years, and became acquainted with PING through her son’s involvement in the Oak Park–River Forest High School bands. She explains the lack of public-school music program diversity often stemmed from socioeconomic reasons.
It costs $50 or more a month, on average, to rent a musical instrument—a big obstacle for many students and their families. PING began by asking community members to donate instruments, often those used by former band and orchestra members. Over the past 25 years, the organization expanded to help districts 90 and 200 as well, serving students from fourth grade through high school graduation.
Today, the organization goes beyond matching students with instruments. Dybal says PING!’s “biggest and most important program” is providing students instruments, including maintenance and repairs, accessories like reeds and bows, and upgraded instruments as students grow physically and musically. Another long-running and successful program involves music mentoring—pairing high school musicians with younger ones, offering near-peer mentor relationships and leadership and role model positions for the older students.
PING has two separate endowments with the Community Foundation, including the Donna D’Oro Anderson Lifelong Music Fund for PING. “We’ve given $22,000 in Graduate Awards from this fund to 22 PING seniors—upon their high school graduations—since 2018.” There are also Experience Awards, which can be applied to opportunities outside PING!’s regular programming, such as music trips. “We had a student who just went to Italy with OPRF for their band trip.”
Dybal is thoughtful about the future of the organization. “It seems like our enrollment numbers over the last few years have gone up and have continued to stay at that level. And so I don’t think it’s going to change that families are going to need PING to help support them.”
“We’re going to keep offering robust programming so everyone can be on a level playing field and have those opportunities moving into the future,” she adds.
For more information about PING, visit their website at pingoprf.org.