Keys to donate instruments to her high school (AP)

NEW YORK – Alicia Keys is heading back to high school.

The Grammy-winning singer will visit the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan on Tuesday and donate music instruments to its students.

Keys says her alma mater is underfunded and oversubscribed, "and I hope to make this better for them."

She will also launch an online contest where people can share how they would use $1,000 "to make the world a better place." It is part of the global campaign, "World of Betters."

The contest begins Tuesday and ends Dec. 15.

"World of Betters" also features rapper K'Naan, who will host an event in Johannesburg, and Indian singer Sunidhi Chauhan, who will host an event in Mumbai, India.

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Online:

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_en_mu/storytext/us_people_alicia_keys/43459688/SIG=10vdvdar6/*http://www.worldofbetters.com

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_en_mu/storytext/us_people_alicia_keys/43459688/SIG=10uihfih0/*http://www.aliciakeys.com/us

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American Jazz troupe donates instruments to Cubans (AP)

HAVANA – Members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra are in Cuba for the second time in a year, this time to distribute a planeload of instruments to promising young musicians at four Havana schools.

The Horns for Havana project grew out of a much higher profile visit to Cuba last year that was headlined by Jazz at Lincoln Center legend Wynton Marsalis.

Carlos Henriquez, a composer and arranger for the New York-based troupe who organized the project, said Wednesday that he and other musicians on the earlier trip were deeply affected by the talented young musicians they met but disturbed by their lack of good instruments.

Many of the youths had broken or worn-out instruments, including guitars without strings, trumpets without valves and violins with cracked wood.

This timed, Henriquez and other musicians brought enough equipment for four complete acoustic jazz orchestras. They valued the instruments at $250,000.

"We are here for the kids," Henriquez said.

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