MIDDLE SCHOOL DRUMLINE EQUIPMENT
Our mission is to see a day when our schools have not only the instruction to excel and compete, but when each student has a safe instrument in good repair to perform with!
With our high school program on the rise through solid leadership and direction, we now need to address the feeder programs – the middle school programs – to ensure a solid foundation for the band program going forward. Through volunteer efforts and workshops offered by Percussive Maintenance, we’re on our way. Dozens of middle school and elementary aged students have been taking part in summer rudimental workshops designed to stress the fundamentals of percussion and build the skills they will need as they grow through the program. They’ve done so well, in fact, that we’re now faced with the reality that need more equipment to progress to the next step.
Our young Indoor Ensemble, comprised of Elementary and Middle School Students from all over Cherokee County has proven itself at the state and regional level, earning the Gold Medal at the 2015 SCBDA Indoor State Championships in Cadet Class, then bumping up to compete against only high schools to win the Bronze Medal in the 2016 SCBDA Indoor State Championships in HIGH SCHOOL NOVICE CLASS and, one week later, Bronze at the CWEA Regional Championships in HIGH SCHOOL NOVICE CLASS finishing ahead of BOTH of the High Schools that medaled ahead of them at State just one week earlier.
We are in need of pitched percussion instruments at all levels in our area, but the need at the Middle School level is severe. For many years now, the only percussion equipment available to middle school students has been the discarded remnants from the high school program – To continue this progress, our students need the support in the classroom as well as in our ensemble.
Through their Championship efforts, the Junior Indoor Ensemble caught the attention of our School Board and throughout the community who, along with your donations, helped fund new battery instruments for our unit for the 2016 indoor season. We again need your help to fund pitched percussion and auxiliary instrumens for this worthy group of kids!
We have secured bids for marimbas, vibraphones, chimes, etc. that are adjustable enough to fit younger students, yet will adjust to their size as they mature. We made sure the frames would be sturdy enough to hold up over the vigors of competition season after season. The Percussive Maintenance Program, as a continuous extension of our volunteer effort, will assume the burden of keeping them in proper repair, eliminating the expense to any individual school budget, and all the middle schools will have equal access to the instruments as their students progress through the program.
Without these instruments, we can only go so far. The kids have done their part – they’ve worked hard and practiced – they’ve excelled! Your help and support will allow them to continue on this trajectory
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS.
