The cost of two HP Notebook computers from CDW Inc. is $2084, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
I teach piano and keyboards at PS 2, a school in the Morrisania section of the Bronx. Our school is in the absolute poorest Congressional District in the entire United States. The children in our school have been rigorously instructed in music, and they routinely perform the music of the great masters in a moving and passionate manner. They also play a good deal of popular and holiday music. Many of our children have auditioned at Juilliard, both this year and last year, but only one was accepted because their sight-reading skills are not up to par for Juilliard. There simply aren't enough hours in the day for a cluster teacher (servicing 120 students daily) to give the kind of individualized instruction required for teaching sight-reading. Another skill in which our children are sorely lacking is composing music. The inclination to compose is natural, and is required by the NYS Music standards. These children are bursting with ideas about music, and need to hash out their ideas and express them.
Composing used to mean sitting at a piano with pencil and manuscript paper, painstakingly drawing all the symbols, working for hours only to find that once you try to perform the piece, it isn't what was expected. Trying to observe ALL the conventions of writing music really blocks the creative flow, especially in young people. Computer music has changed this forever. Computers allow children who wouldn't otherwise have the chance to try many different melodies, chord progressions, voicings and arrangements, etc. They'd be able to hear how the melodies work together to create harmony and counterpoint, and evaluate different solutions to musical problems. With a computer and software, they could hook up the electronic keyboards to the computer, and could experiment and refine their composing and sight-reading skills. Sight-reading is a critical skill for students wishing to go on to intermediate or advanced study, but often acts as a stumbling block, because the system of decoding (and encoding) music on paper is so very daunting for children. Since music has not been a real priority in schools in this area, there is no hardware or software for students to use in this manner. Their track record clearly indicates that they deserve the resources needed to dramatically increase their sight-reading skills and finally be able to realize their dreams of composing. Please help us.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. H. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.