NEWS RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
Master Media Strategies, Inc.
Los Angeles and Detroit
Media Contact: Donald James 310.497.9566.
email: mastermediadj@sbcglobal.net
Darron McKinney, Former Law Enforcement Officer turned gospel, jazz saxophonist, heads non-profit organization to provide free musical instruments to underserved youth in Metro Detroit
Detroit, MI – Sept. 6, 2022 – Musician and recording artist Darron McKinney, founder of Detroit-based DC Instrumental Music Institute – a 501 c 3 non-profit foundation - is on a mission to provide free instruments to underprivileged children, inner-city public school band programs, HBCUs, and young people who are survivors of the coronavirus.
“Growing up on the east side of Detroit, I saw kids who wanted to play an instrument but couldn’t because either the schools they attended didn’t have a band program or their parents were not financially able to buy their children an instrument,” said McKinney. “It’s not right that children in Detroit and other areas should go without the instruments of their dream to play. Through DC Instrumental Music Institute, I want to change that narrative for kids.”
McKinney has always given back to empower young people, even when he was a Wayne County Deputy Sherriff for 14 years before becoming a police officer for Detroit Public Schools Community District. His idea to further help underserved children and school bands took flight two years ago after spending three weeks in the Intensive Care Unit at Henry Ford Hospital in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. McKinney had fluid in both lungs; he said he was dying. Following a medical procedure, a part of the recovery required him to blow consistently into a device to strengthen his lungs while releasing water.
McKinney followed the doctors’ instructions for a little while before asking if he could blow his saxophone rather than blow into the contraption. The doctors gave him the green light.
“My wife brought my soprano saxophone to the hospital,” explained McKinney. I was in ICU playing it. That was the breakthrough. Five or six doctors were standing around listening to me play my sax and rehabbing. I played church songs in the hospital, like What a Friend We Have in Jesus, His Eye is on the Sparrow. I was having church up in there!”
Fast forward to 2022, McKinney said he’s fully recovered. Blowing into his saxophone was the therapy he needed. McKinney realized that having musical instruments could be the therapy young males and females needed in all aspects of their lives.
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McKinney, through his “for-profit company” DC Musical Instruments LLC, has been manufacturing premier musical instruments, especially saxophones – since 2016, making his company the first African American-owned and operated musical instrument manufacturer in the country, perhaps the world. McKinney has received a list of instruments needed by his alma mater, Martin Luther King High School, in Detroit.
“I am pleased to hear of an idea of support for our students,” Lamar A. Phillips, a Fine Arts Educator at King High School,” wrote in a needs assessment letter to McKinney. “We are rebuilding and growing. Therefore, the timing is amazing. We are truly appreciative.”
A similar list of needed musical instruments has been submitted by the Band Director at Spain Middle School in Detroit and other schools in the city. McKinney is reaching out to corporations, businesses, individuals, and other philanthropic parties to help pick up the cost of getting instruments into the hands of young students. He would also be interested in speaking with any person, organization - even another musical instrument manufacturer – or donors about collaborating to help kids receive quality instruments to pursue their music endeavors.
“This is my way of giving back to the community and helping to empower a population of underserved, underrepresented, underprivileged young people, the overwhelming majority of which are African Americans,” McKinney said. “I know I can make a difference, but I need organizations and individuals to see the vision on behalf of the children.”
For more information about McKinney’s non-profit DC Musical Instrumental Institute, log on to https://dcimi.org or call 1.800.392.1795. For more information about McKinney’s instrument manufacturing company, DC Musical Instruments LLC, log on to https://www.dcsax.store To interview Darron McKinney, call 310.497.9566.