Mr. A, My Alto Sax Doesn't Work...

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

There are very few things in this world that can inspire a band student more than putting a brand new, shiny instrument in their hands for the first time. Unfortunately, for my saxophone students, this dream has yet to come true. These students are sadly still playing on broken instruments.

My band students are amazing young men and women who take pride in what they do and what they have accomplished.

For example, for the first time in school history, my band students won 1st Place and the Best Brass Section caption award at our major regional competition this past February. My students were all so excited and felt as though they were finally recognized for all of their diligence and hard work. You see, 80% of the students who attend my school are eligible for free or reduced lunches. This figure includes many of my band students. In fact, I know of several students who work part time jobs in order to help their parents (or a single parent) pay rent each month. Some of my students come to school each day wearing the same clothes they wore yesterday and the day before, simply because they cannot afford new ones. Band not only inspires my students to become better musicians and artists, it also provides a much needed escape from the hardships they endure on a daily basis.

My Project

If my school were fortunate enough to receive two brand new working alto saxophones, not only would I be able to include several more instrumentalists in my program, I would be able to give my saxophone students the opportunity to play on an instrument that has working keys, pads that do not stick, and delivers a great tone. In all my years as a band director, I have always seen students get more excited about playing the saxophone than practically any other instrument, mainly because of its versatility in different styles of music and its ease of performance. Furthermore, because the alto saxophone is such a prominent facet of any concert band, to be forced to instruct my saxophone students to continue playing on broken instruments for yet another year would mean that their high school band experience, not to mention that of all the other instrumentalists enrolled in band, would certainly be dissatisfying.

I am humbly requesting two brand new working alto saxophones for the students in my band program.

As I am sure you can imagine from the picture representing this project, my school does not own many instruments that are in playable condition. I pray that I am not forced to turn any interested students away from band, or worse yet, lose any current band students, all because my school does not own the necessary resources to help me provide my students with a quality music education.