My students need a marimba and new mallets. We are a growing band and we have eight percussionists this year. We don't have enough instruments to cover all parts yet.
Our school has been without a significant band for many years. The band was resurrected by my colleagues several years ago, but the program has never really gotten off the ground. I took over last year with 45 students. The largest it's been since it was restarted.
This year, my students, from all areas of expertise have joined together in a band of 38.
Our school, because of our increased visibility at school events, is now starting to be aware of the fact that we have a band. Something I would love to increase. However, with restarting a band, we are lacking in resources. We have leftover instruments from the early 90s. We are missing bits and pieces of other instruments. They want to succeed, but we are lacking proper tools.
My Project
My students need a marimba and new mallets. My percussion section--all eight of them--have been improvising with equipment that is broken, in need to replacement or making do with what we have. With new mallets, my students can begin to learn mallet percussion instruments in the way that they are intended to be played rather than playing with what they have which is not always correct. Adding a marimba to what we have--a xylophone and a set of bells--will allow at least two more students to participate at a time. Many of our other schools have a full set of mallet percussion to accommodate all of the parts that standard band music requires where mine have improvised.
My students often refer to their section as "ghetto" because they are using equipment that is broken, in need of repair, or incorrect for the instruments they need.
I also added in a bass drum mallet because my students have been using a marching bass drum mallet on our concert bass drum because that is all that we have. A new marimba would help broaden the percussion section by allowing more students to participate, proper mallets to play their instruments and improve morale.
More than half of students from low‑income households
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