My orchestra students are bright and enthusiastic music-lovers and music-makers! Every day we work diligently in class to develop our instrumental skills, practice our note reading, train our ears, and improve our ensemble in order to sound our best and enjoy making music as a team!
Playing in orchestra allows students to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
They are learning from their mistakes, problem solving, working together, and discovering how to express themselves through music. Every day they grow and strive for excellence!
My Project
I strive to provide my orchestra students with the most fulfilling and fun musical experience possible. I believe that it is essential for all young musicians to have an instrument that is the appropriate size. Trying to learn on an instrument that is not the correct size makes everything more difficult, causing unnecessary struggle and frustration.
I also believe that it is crucial for students to have instruments of decent quality to learn on; nothing is more discouraging for a young musician than an instrument that always sounds bad, despite their progress.
Basses are the foundation of the orchestra! They are also the largest and most expensive instrument to purchase. Students at our middle school who play bass have access to a bass that remains in the classroom for classes and have a bass on loan from the school that stays at home for practicing. Home practice is imperative for student growth and progress! Unfortunately, I currently do not have enough 3/4 basses for all of my bass students.
A couple of years ago, I had a sixth grade student whose enthusiasm for the bass was contagious! Inspired by his excitement, two of his classmates started bass with him. All three of these fantastic students are still playing! Now I have every orchestra teacher's dream bass section, but I do not have enough basses of the correct size to go around.
The local shop does not offer bass rentals (which are prohibitively expensive for most families anyway), and buying a bass is not an option for most of these families at this time. Please help us!
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