Our school opened it's doors this past fall. The building was outdated and so we painted, updated the electrical system and added Internet connectivity. The building looks great, but the music room is empty! The students are ready to start playing drums, but we don't have drums at school.
Our students come from all backgrounds and developmental levels.
Some have developmental delays and/or learning disabilities. It is amazing to see how successful they've been in band! They learn to focus and have confidence in themselves. Many never thought that they could be musicians and yet we've already had two successful concerts! One boy receives special services for 60% of his school day. He has been very successful in band class. He can play several songs by memory and did a terrific job in both of our concerts. He and his Mom were so proud! Another student has severe ADHD and so has trouble focusing. He tries so hard in band! He can also play several songs, most from memory, and is the first person in his family to play an instrument. The students have been playing on bell kits, but are now ready to start playing actual drums. Unfortunately, our school does not own any drums for band. We will play on practice pads and hope for real drums some time in the future.
My Project
Have you ever been to a band concert and heard the excitement coming from the percussion section? You can probably still hear the crashes, booms and the rocking beat from the drums. Well, our band does not have any of these sounds yet. So far, the percussion students have been learning about pitched percussion by playing on their bell kits. They are ready to move on to the non-pitched percussion instruments such as the snare drum, bass drum and crash cymbals, but our school does not have any of these instruments. We are a brand new school and so the majority of our resources have been going to the classrooms for text books, computers, and even pencil sharpeners! The school started out with an empty building! I was able to find some used file cabinets and chairs for the music room, but no music equipment. We would like to have two snare drums for our eight drummers to share. That way we can add some excitement to our concerts and some day march in our local parades!
When our students signed up for percussion six months ago, they thought they'd be playing drums.
However, true "percussionists" start out on bell kits, so they understand pitched notation and melody (their teacher's idea!) They worked hard, even though they really only wanted to play drums. Now they've passed all the playing tests and are ready for real drums. Please help make their music dreams come true and show them that when they work hard, good things will happen.
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