Help me give my students a new xylophone for all of our music programs that incorporate percussion: Concert Band, Marching Band, Show Choir, Winter Percussion, and Jazz Band.
Our school has nearly 200 students in our performing groups including, Concert Choir, Marching Band, three Show Choirs, Jazz Band, Winter Percussion, and Winter Colorguard. These students perform both locally and abroad playing nursing home gigs, little league parades, but also competing on the national level at FAME Show Choir Nationals and USBands National Championships.
Our Music Department has always strived to be "More Than Music" providing life-long learning opportunities for all musicians and putting on extraordinary year round performances for our local Massachusetts communities and beyond.
We find it is very important to bring joy to our community and abroad through music performance all while teaching students what dedication, responsibility, and respect can do to help them meet their dreams and goals in life.
My Project
SH Music students have been using the same Musser Xylophones since their original purchase in December 1990. These instruments have traveled in rough truck rides over 20 performances per year, have been caught in the rain during football games, and are naturally (as percussion instruments) struck by mallets and sticks on a daily basis 300 days out of a year. Once a year the students have a Maintenance Day detail cleaning, repairing, and paintings deteriorating percussion equipment to ensure they last us even longer. Our great care has helped maintain everything in a decent playing condition for a very long time, however, our Xylophone’s time on Earth is running short and it will soon be off to the Big Orchestra in the Sky.
We are in the process of a replacement program for many of our percussion materials because our nationally renowned Bands and Choirs need new instruments to inspire the next generations of musicians to come out of the Dudley-Charlton Community.
Each year our music programs and classes touch the lives of nearly 200 students. And with almost 200 students, you can imagine the number of performances we put on for the local community, the state, New England, and even on the national circuit at USBands National Championships in New Jersey, and FAME National Finals in Ohio every year. This specific xylophone will be used everyday during the 2018 Marching Band Season, 2019 Winter Percussion Season, 2018/2019 Concert Band seasons, and in two classes throughout the school day. It will live on for many years as it’s predecessor xylophone did as a learning tool for the next young musician in our school district.
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