Music Matters

Music and the arts are very important in a childs education. While the city public schools provide the arts for the children, they do not provide much in the ways of funding for the programs. In order to get what we need, teachers have write grants, pay out of pocket or raise money.  So here we are.

There are approximately 1,300 students in my school, grades K through 5th grade. I see half of the classes and my co-teacher sees the other half.  This means two classes are using instruments during the same period. At most we have enough for half of ONE class.

Our students come from low income backgrounds and for most of them, this will be their only exposure to learning to play instruments and create music. In their time with us they are learning to play the xylophone, recorder, drums, ukulele, guitar and keyboard.

In order for us to be effective we need enough of each instrument for a full class set. At the moment, students spend half of the class waiting for their turn on an instrument. The goal for this fundraiser is to get enough items so that there is a full class set and every child gets to use an instrument for the duration of the class.  Funds will go towards the following:

-3 keyboards (to complete our set) for a keyboard lab with rotating stations
-10 orff instruments (to complete our set of 16)
-A charging station for tablets.
-10 tablets (to complete a class set) 
-16 headphone splitters
-headphones 
-Drumsticks 
-Lumber to build shelves to hold the instruments
-keyboard stands
-extension cords for the keyboards
-16 guitars (to complete our class set)