Stefanie's Replacement Instruments

Dear Stefanie's Friends & Family:

Upon hearing of the theft of Stefanie's instruments, a lot of us asked her how we could contribute towards replacing them. You know Stefanie - she was reluctant to have us help, even though she is always so generous to everyone else. But we were finally able to convince her that we needed to be able to let some of that generosity go back to her! She's written the statement below about what her need is - please take a look and feel free to contribute whatever you'd like. You can also choose to contribute through Facebook Messenger to Stefanie directly if you prefer, since they take a smaller cut of the donation.

Thanks!
Melanie (one of Stefanie's huge circle of friends)

From Stefanie:
I have received so many messages from friends and family asking for an opportunity to help. It has been a major lesson for me in accepting generosity with humility and grace. A friend and bandmate wrote “I encourage you to bring your most emotionally healthy self to the table and receive all the love that is pouring out to you.” So I thank you for this opportunity to practice this and grow.

I’m a full-time, self-employed musician in San Diego. I play and teach the clarinet and saxophone. Music is my passion and my livelihood. My two professional instruments that I use on a daily basis to practice, perform, and teach, were stolen on the evening of August 2nd. I was suddenly without the tools I need to do my job. Since then I have been in action mode, setting up a police report, retrieving my serial numbers, checking pawn shops and music stores and craigslist, researching options for replacement instruments, and tracking down some to borrow so I can teach my weekly private students and perform six shows a week at Lambs Players Theatre. Thanks to the generosity of friends, I have a clarinet and tenor sax to use in the interim while I make a plan.

To replace my instruments, I am looking at a Buffet R-13 Professional Bb clarinet which costs about $4,000 and a  Yamaha 62 Professional Tenor Sax which costs about $3,500. The value of the accessories that were inside my stolen instrument cases including mouthpieces, ligatures, instrument stands, cleaning swabs, neck straps, teaching materials, and reeds totals about $500. My previous instruments were not insured, but I am researching both instrument and renters insurance to make sure I am never in this position again.

Thank you for reading and for sharing my story. Please do not feel obligated to contribute. The support you have already given me in your phone calls, messages, and hugs has been more than enough. I feel loved by my family, friends, and the incredible network that is the San Diego Music community.  If we haven’t met and you are interested in learning more about me, my website is stefanieschmitz.net.