The sounds of classical music always filled David Necker's home.
"The first instrument I heard was Dad playing his violin," he said.
Bill Necker bought his violin by taking all of his savings out of the bank just days before the stock market crash in 1929.
"He was a kid and he cared for that violin and played it for 84 years," David Necker, Bill's son, said.
For the second year in a row, 9NEWS has partnered with Bringing Music to Life to push a statewide music instrument drive designed to help school programs around Colorado. Donation locations have been set up to receive donations through March 26.
Necker's father donated his violin about nine months before he died last year. Necker says it was difficult at first for his father to let go of his cherished instrument which he played until he was 96 most recently in a church orchestra.
"I think the special thing was that he had bought it himself and he cared for it and he used it and used it and it gave him a great appreciation of having, I think, the same instrument," Necker said.
Through Bringing Music to Life, the violin ended up in the hands of Mayerli Lopez, an eighth grade student at the Bruce Randolph School in Denver.
"I thought, maybe it's going to break easily because it looks pretty old," Mayerli said. "So, I was like, it's not going to last me long. I might have to change pretty soon."
Then, she found out the long history of the violin.
"Just knowing this instrument has been around for so long and it's not damaged or anything, it's shocking," Mayerli said.
Necker says his father was happy to hear that it would be played again in a school.
"Well, I think that's what music is all about is it lives it's own life and it lives on and on and on and it's connection for all of us," Necker said.
If you want to donate a used instrument, you can find a location by clicking here: http://bit.ly/1ppk404
Instruments are repaired and restored before being distributed to the schools, so don't worry if you think the instrument is no longer in playing condition.
