Eddie Van Halen has spoken to CNN about his work with Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, which supports music education and its many benefits through the donation and repair of musical instruments to under-served schools, community music programs and individual students nationwide. "Music is such a necessity. It touches people's souls," he told CNN. "Music is the universal language to me. It transcends everything. "My whole life has been music," he said. "I could not imagine anything else." "It really hit me when I graduated high school, you sign everybody's yearbook and everybody asks you, 'So what college are you going to?' Uh... 'Hey Al [Eddie's brother, VAN HALEN drummer Alex Van Halen], I think we better stick to what we know.'" Several years ago, Van Halen donated 75 of his personal guitars to Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation. He explained at the time that he "wanted to give back to the community and especially kids in need who want an instrument but didn't have the opportunities that I had." The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation donates new and refurbished musical instruments to schools in an effort to give youngsters the many benefits of music education, help them to be better students and inspire creativity and expression through playing music. To date, the organization has donated over $20 million worth of instruments to over 1,400 schools, including a batch of guitars Van Halen donated in 2012 and more gear in 2013 beyond his ongoing financial support. You can watch the CNN interview at this location.
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