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Newmarket pianist gives back with the gift of music

David Toms is giving back to the community by donating what he is most passionate about — music.
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Musician David Toms plays, teaches and records piano. Before becoming a musician full-time he worked in the tech industry.

Newmarket musician David Toms is giving back to the community and businesses hard-hit by the pandemic.

The professional, full-time piano player decided he wanted to lift the spirits of the community during the holiday season, and what better way to do that than to donate the gift of music, he said.

"It's important as musicians to give back. I think it's one of those things we have as musicians to gift and if we have the opportunity to give something back, I think we should all take advantage of it."

Toms recently posted in a Newmarket Facebook group that he would be donating an hour of free music from Dec. 19 to 24.

Whether it's to bring smiles to the residents and staff of a long-term care home, or help a restaurant or other business that has a limited budget for an employee holiday function, listening to music for an hour can boost morale, which "is so important for people to feel appreciated," he said.

Knowing how tough the pandemic has been on local businesses, the original idea of donating his time stemmed from Toms seeking an opportunity to thank the businesses he'd been hired to play for throughout the past year.

"Christmas time, it's a tough time for a lot of people. There's a lot of people that maybe they don't have family around — particularly some of the retirement homes I play at. You get to know these people, they're almost like family . . . I just thought it would be a nice way to say thank you and to give back, and that's really important for me to do that."

The response from those businesses was so overwhelmingly positive and "they were all just so excited," that Toms decided to take the opportunity to offer his services not just to businesses and organizations he has a working relationship with, but to the entire Newmarket community.   

"I got to thinking, 'well why should I just limit it to the people who have actually hired me?' I should just open it up to the community," he said. "So that's why I kind of opened it up on Facebook. I thought, I'm going to do something, just a way of saying thank you for the support that I've seen from the community but also to give back."

The inspiration for his initiative, he said, came during a recent drive on the Don Valley Parkway. Toms was heading home after a piano gig when he noticed a tent and blankets under a bridge. It made him realize just how fortunate he was, and it got him thinking about what he could do.

"I'm going to go home. My house is going to be warm, I'm going to have food and here is somebody that is living on the street under a bridge in the middle of winter and I just got thinking everybody has the opportunity to give something back. We all have something we can do, even if it's for an hour."

Though the pandemic "was a catalyst," Toms has decided to continue the initiative annually and hopes other local musicians will follow suit, he said.

"What if every musician in the Newmarket-Aurora area, what if they all followed my lead and said, 'you know, we're going to do the same thing that Dave's doing?' It would be an incredible gift to the community."

To book Toms send an email to [email protected]