MONTREAL - Students at a school in Park Ex are making beautiful sounds together, thanks to a grant the school scored after a parent convinced a charity that the students were worthy of new musical instruments.

Now budding musicians at the Sinclair Laid Elementary School have a whole new set of instruments to master.

Opening the seven boxes full of new instruments was a memorable moment for students.

"I opened the box with the xylophones so we started fixing them and then playing on them, we just played whatever we wanted," said grade five student Thineika Perinpavelupillai.

The new instruments are thanks to parent Joanna Peters and MusiCounts program which responded to her appeal.

Peters is a percussionist who also volunteers as a music teacher to the students at a weekly afternoon workshop.

"I think it's really fun, like a creative way to express to your feelings and everything," she said.

But Peters found there just weren't enough quality instruments for the students.

She turned to the school's music teacher for help.

"I said, ‘okay, let me go to Mme. Helene's class, she's going to have some drums I could borrow,' and I came and there were two or three little hand drums and some old broken down drums and I said, ‘Wow, that's all there is?'" asked parent Joanna Peters.

Helene Diguer had been struggling in her own classes, too.

"We did our best. We did a lot of singing and dancing but something was missing," said music teacher Helene Diguer.

Peters did some online research and discovered MusiCounts, a Toronto-based program affiliated with The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS),which offers funding for musical education.

With help from Diguer, Peters spent months working on a 30-page application package.

Not long after she sent it in, she got the good news: MusiCounts agreed to give the school a $5,000 Band-Aid grant to purchase dejembes, handheld shakers, xylophones and other instruments for the fledgling musical prodigies.

"We are very, very happy. We are thrilled that parents of the school get involved in their children's education and Mrs. Peters has been terrific," said Principal Viola Vathilakis.

Diguer says this will all make a big difference to her students.

"I want them to have fun with instruments to play with them and really be happy to come in my music class," said Diguer.

Peters is so elated that she's had to push back the tears.

"I'm very emotional so there were actually moments where I was on the verge of crying. I was very excited. That's my big joy," said Peters