I teach in a Title 1 school on the far Southern Coast of Georgia. It is mostly island and very rural. The county's main source of income is shrimp fishing. Almost half of the county is owned by the government. This means there isn't a lot of revenue. 100% of our 1300 total students are on free breakfast and lunch. The population is rather diverse and the poverty level, as you can imagine, is over-whelming.
Our classroom instruments are older than I am and I'm older than Methuselah.
These kids are fabulous! They are happy with what we have, but they deserve better and so much more. Please help me bring their music room into the present day
My Project
The classroom instruments in my room are beyond aging. They are warped, chipped, in pieces, in some cases. Somewhere before me, someone had the bright idea that there would be more jingle bells if they cut the plastic ring in half to fourths, so in many cases, there is one jingle bell, and chances are likely the little ball inside the bell is gone. Therefore -
My claves are splintering, many held together with masking tape (so not cool), my boomwhackers are warped and out of tune, my jingle bells don't jingle, My maracas have lost their rockas and there is not ONE SINGLE COWBELL!
Honestly, not a single cowbell! What general music room doesn't have a cowbell? Every song needs more cowbell! I threw away instruments halfway through the year because they were dangerous and irreparable. They need replaced. Bad.
Music is a hands-on learning experience. Children don't want to 'talk' music - they want to DO music and with safe, usable rhythm instruments, they will learn, create, compose, and accompany not only recorded music, but their own.
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