Crimson Thunder Drum Line

This vision will bring 2 of my biggest passions together; educating students and drums. After a long creative thinking process, I’ve come up with the name: The Crimson Thunder Drum Line. I am raising money to pay for the instruments needed to be a successful drum line. The instruments are drums  that are made specifically for elementary school students.

The Crimson Thunder will be a premier percussion group for grades 3-5. My school is a Title I school and is in a high poverty area. There are also very few child-friendly venues in this area. Seeing how no elementary school in the entire Hampton Roads area has a drum line, I feel that having this program will not only help the students become better students and leaders, but will be a beacon for School and Community.

My vision for this group is simple; it will be based on 3 pillars: Musical Excellence, Academic Excellence and Moral Excellence

Pillar 1: Musical Excellence
With my background and expertise in music education, I will ensure that these students will have high quality learning experience on percussion instruments. The main goal of Pillar 1 is to ensure that not only will they be ready for middle school band at an early age, but they will be past beginner level by the time they reach middle school.

Pillar 2: Academic Excellence
A big goal of this program is to use the art and love of drumming to teach responsibility. Not only will I have the students playing at an advanced level, but I will teach them how to be academically responsible. I plan to be very adamant about the students’ grades. In order to be a member of Crimson Thunder, the student must have and maintain an A-B average. I will be in constant communication with each member’s teacher to ensure that grades and behavior are at an exceptional level.
This is a very challenging task to demand of the students at this level, so plans have been made to help them achieve the A-B grade average goal. The 1st 30-45 minutes of EVERY rehearsal will be used as a study hall. As a team, we will study and work on homework together. I personally will have copies of the students’ study guides and homework sheets, thanks to the communication that will happen between the teachers and I. I am also the percussion instructor at the local high school, so the next phase of this plan will start a Big Brother Big Sister Program; I am teaching similar concepts at the high school level, so I plan on having my high school students mentor my elementary students. This will give the elementary students someone to look up to with similar passions, but also help keep the high school students on their toes.

Pillar 3: Moral Excellence
I will also use this program to mold the students into exceptional members of society; I believe in giving back to the community and help others the best way that I can. We will do various community services, in the school and out of the school, and help out where needed. For example, I envision us doing things like playing and helping the elderly at local nursing homes. While helping the community, I will also use this platform to teach and talk to the students about simpler things to being great humans beings, like doing chores at home, helping other fellow students at Lee Hall, etc.

With your help, I can make this vision and dream a reality