We are a rural school, located halfway between two very small townships, in the beautiful Appalachian mountains. Our county has about 16,000 residents, 66% of whom are listed as "rural". We are a Title I school, free and reduced price lunch program. There is not a lot of money in the county. What we sadly do have are the highest rates of child abuse/neglect in the region.
Our students enjoy music, love to dance and sing, but do not have access to musical instruction or instruments.
For the few students whose families do have the financial means to get lessons, usually driving times to teachers or academies are prohibitive. They would LOVE to get their hands on some instruments.
My Project
I am requesting eleven Ukuleles to add to the thirteen that we currently own in order to put together an entire class-set for our 5th-grade music students.
They can sing, they have played recorders, but we need to expand our vocabulary to include popular music and song.
My students need to opportunity to put into practice what they have learned.
They can quickly learn several chords on the small, easy-to-play ukuleles and use those chords to play thousands of songs. What a great point of access to the musical world! Current artists such as Jason Mraz, 21 Pilots, and the beautiful "Lava" song by Pixar have re-popularized this sometimes-forgotten instrument.
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