Making music - and musical instruments - has proven to be a rewarding experience for some of the folks at Queen's Park Care Centre.
Each Friday, a group of the residents meets in the centre's music therapy room to make musical instruments from kits ordered from Minnesota.
The group will be selling some of the instruments they've made, as well as some music boxes, at its annual sale on Nov. 25 and 26 from 9: 30 a.m. to 3: 30 p.m. in the lobby of Queen's Park Care Centre. Instruments sold in the past include a banjo, an oval harp, several wood ukuleles and cigar box ukuleles, lap harps and strumblies, which is like a guitar - only lighter and easier to play.
Copper wind chimes and music boxes will also be available at the sale. Prices start from a handful of dollars up to several hundred dollars. The 2010 sale raised $1,400 dollars and the 2009 sale raised $1,300, with that money being reinvested into the program.
The musical instrument-making sessions are similar to quilt-making groups of the past.
The group, which consists of people into their 90s, enjoy their musical instrument making meetings so much that they often don't want to leave. Six to eight people usually participate, and a handful of others often watch. The musical instrument making meetings start and end with singing - and participants make some beautiful instruments in between. The music therapy department offers music on all three floors of Queen's Park Care Centre.
The program is funded by the hospital foundation, friends, families and the residents themselves.
Queen's Park Care Centre is located at 315 McBride Blvd.
