KTBA Weekly Donation Archives - Page 10 of 17

KTBA Weekly Donation

St Charles Elementary Receives Music Equipment

Thibobaux, L.A – Thanks to your donations this week, Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation made a wonderful donation to St. Charles Elementary music program! Mr. Chamberlain, the school’s music teacher was looking for a way to amplify his students’ music performances. Typically, in larger scaled performances, certain instruments such as the flute, for instance, can get “buried” in the band’s overall sound. As a result, it has been proven necessary to have some sort of amplification system nearby. The earlier that students learn about how to operate these amp systems, the more versatile their experience will be as they graduate and move on to bigger bands at the high school level. The mics are also used for solo performances and speeches. Mr. Chamberlain’s fifth grade classroom consists of a beginning band. Whereas a lot of students end up start in recorder, Chamberlain is starting his students off on another level. “I teach fifth grade beginning band at a small public school with limited funds in southeast Louisiana. Our school has pre-k through fifth grade and it has under three hundred wonderful, bright, eager students. We have dedicated, highly qualified teachers who love their jobs, and the students we get the privilege to teach. We also have great parental and community support with a common goal of going above and beyond to ensure the success of every student we teach.” With the new PA system, the band can strive for better sound quality and intonation as their sound fills up the room. Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, The students at our school and I thank you for supporting our project. We can’t wait to get our supplies in so that we can enjoy listening to music the way it was intended to sound, and create our own music that we can record and play back for both learning and enjoyment. Our annual talent show will also be enhanced by giving all of the students the opportunity to perform on stage with quality equipment which will enhance their confidence with public performance.With gratitude, Mr. Chamberlain

January 16, 2015

Success Stories – Keys to Success: KTBA Sponsors After-School Keyboard Lab

Independence, M.O – Thanks to your donations this week, Keeping The Blues Alive started the year off well, by providing a keyboard pack for Benton Elementary School. Ms. Wehrman is sponsoring an after-school music class for the young students at her elementary school. “My students live in poverty with nearly a 90% free and reduced lunch rate. They do not have the ability to afford piano lessons. So many of them long to take lessons, but often turn away devastated when they discover there is a fee. My kids love music and would benefit greatly from taking this love to a higher level. Group piano lessons will give these students an opportunity they would ordinarily not receive.” The students will sign up on a first come, first serve basis for an after school club. This club will rotate quarterly to accommodate as many students as possible. The students will each have their own keyboard to practice on during the clubs with headphones so as to not interrupt other students while practicing. As the students learn and perform a song, either for the teacher or group as a whole, they will receive stickers showing they passed the song. The club will culminate in a recital showing graduation from the program. Students who show a continuing desire to learn can apply for a scholarship for continued lessons. “Donations will help my students have an opportunity that currently eludes them. These piano lessons will help train their brains to utilize both hemispheres at the same time, thus improving brain functions. These skills will transfer to other academic areas as well as encourage confidence in working towards a goal. The students will learn skills that will stay with them for life.” As a result of the donations received, her project was funded! Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Today was our first day back to school after break, and this gift kicked off the new semester in a marvelous way for all of us.My students beg for piano lessons on a weekly basis, but their families simply cannot afford them. These resources will open a door to my students to have the opportunity to take group piano lessons for free in a safe, after-school environment. I can hardly wait for this club to begin, hopefully later this month!As you know, music helps build creativity and critical thinking for students. It can also provide structure to their lives and give them a goal to work to achieve. Your generosity will help my students today, tomorrow, and forever. With gratitude, Ms. Wehrman

January 9, 2015

Success Stories – KTBA Funds Local Initiative for New Instruments!

Miramar, FL – Thanks to your donations this week, Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation made a powerful donation to Somerset Academy, allowing these students to purchase new instruments for their band program! Building a presence in the local community has always been a goal for us here at KTBA, and this opportunity allowed us to sow a seed into an already growing music program. Ms. Jackson, the school’s band director, describes her involvement with the band, and tell us about the materials in question: “My students range between the ages of 12-18. I have over eighty students in the band, which is one in eight students for the whole school. I also teach over eighty students for the Chorus program. I started with a total of fifteen students, and in less than four years have built this entire music department through sheer determination. I’m always excited to go to school each day to inspire the students to not only be amazing musicians, but to be amazing people in life.” As the budgets have diminished for music and arts programs over the past decade in the U.S., teachers struggle to keep up with the demand for more instruments and materials to keep their curriculum growing. This causes the teachers to look elsewhere for funding of these programs, and that is where Keeping The Blues Alive can step in. Ms. Jackson, requesting a standard Bb tuba, a pair of orchestral cymbals, and a standard gong set, is not a lofty request for a band program of her size and stature. Using the funds available through donors like yourselves, KTBA purchased these items through DonorsChoose.org. Now Ms. Jackson can look forward to all of her instrumentation being covered in the upcoming concerts, and the students can have an additional sense of pride for the upcoming semester as they see more and more being poured into their music program. Ms. Jackson expresses her gratitude to the donors involved! Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, I cannot express my full gratitude in providing funds for our resources, but this thank you note is just a start. It is with humble thanks and praise for your generosity. Please know that we will utilize the needed items for our classroom use and use outside of the classroom for special performances. My students are amazing kids who have worked really hard to build a music program from scratch. It is a joy to see their love for performance and musicianship grow throughout my time with them. They are some of the most talented students I have ever worked with. These resources will provide a great need for our program.Thank you once again for your thoughtful gift. With gratitude, Ms. Jackson One of Ms. Jackson’s students will be particularly thrilled to hear this great news! A young man wanted to participate in the band program so much, that he learned how to play the baritone (a euphonium instrument) in an effort to contribute to the low end of the band’s sound. He will be the first student in mind when the tuna arrives, and we are certain that Ms. Jackson and her band class will have some exciting concerts to boast from this experience. Happy New Year! We are off to a great start!

January 2, 2015

Donation of the Week

Drum Hero Joe Tomino Supports Local Music Program cleveland, oh – One hustle-and-bustle type of morning, I was getting ready to head into the office when I received a phone call on my cell. It was Mr. Joe Tomino – drummer of Hasidic Rapper Matisyahu and the Brooklyn-born powerhouse, Dub Trio. After another successful year of touring and recording, Mr. Tomino was extremely adamant about making a donation to Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation. “Tell me more about this organization – I have seen your posts and read your stories and I have been looking to make a charitable contribution this year. Perhaps there’s something we can do together.” This, to my knowledge of him, was the same selfless kind of mentality that he shows towards music and rhythm. If you have never seen him perform, then you cannot understand how ruthlessly tasteful his groove is, and the musical maturity he brings to any band or studio recording. Tomino, a native of Cleveland, wanted to invest in a school in his local area. This led us to Citizens Academy East, a free K-5 charter school founded just 4 years ago as a result of the overwhelmingly positive reviews from its first school founded only in 1999. Since then, it has become one of the top-performing elementary schools in Ohio. Mrs. Estell, director of music at the academy, had always aimed to provide her students with the best chance to succeed not only in music, but also in their studies. “I work at an elementary school, housing K-4 students in an urban area. The students at my school are high needs, socially, financially and educationally. Our school is wonderful at providing our students with a safe and fulfilling educational environment that encompasses a wide variety of learning styles including the arts. My intent is for the students to use their fine arts skills of text analysis and apply it in a literacy setting.” Music notation is one of the fundamental building blocks of music education. A musician who can read music accurately and translate it into a skilled performance, is considered to be accomplished. Mrs. Estell wishes to take those music notation lessons and teach students how to play percussion instruments in her classroom. “With the new common core standards, studying, identifying and comprehension of text is very important, Estell explains. “Music notation is considered a form of text. Using the various rhythm instruments I’ve asked for, students K-4 will be exploring musical text in a hands-on way.” Together with KTBA, Mr. Tomino made a donation to help Mrs. Estell acquire the instruments she was looking for. A shipment of tom toms, assorted shakers, and hand drums will arrive before the holiday. We know that next semester will be especially unique for Mrs. Estell and those kids. She sends her gratitude: [quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]Thank you all so much for your generous donations to my students! I cannot wait to share the wonderful news with them! With your giving hearts, I can add more fantastic activities to the music curriculum at my school. With the winter break coming up I can plan out some great lessons with all the new materials coming our way. I cannot wait to share the photographs of excited, loving and thankful students making music with your kind gifts. Thank you again and have the happiest of holidays! With gratitude, Mrs. Estell[/quote] As the holiday season approaches, we are constantly bombarded with sales ads for buying gifts for our friends and families. However, this Christmas, why not invest in our children’s education? They really are our future! The next generation will be the ones taking care of us when we grow old, making decisions on behalf of our country and solving our country’s greatest challenges. By investing in music education, students have the opportunity to exercise creativity and free thinking with boundaries. That is why the arts are so important. We cannot let arts and music programs fade, when they provide such positive outcomes for the kids involved. We’d like to send a special thank you to Joe Tomino for his donation and we wish him all the best in the new year and beyond as he travels the world! To learn all about Joe, visit his website at JoeTomino.com or check out one of our favorite articles on the Sabian website here: http://www.sabian.com/es/article/who-the-heck-is-joe-tomino

December 18, 2014

Donation of the Week

New Percussion Instruments Complete the Sound new york city, ny – Thanks to your donations this week, Keeping The Blues Alive made a donation to Meyer Levin High School in Brooklyn! With such a small budget for the inaugural music program, Mr. Oberlin had his hands full trying to come up with ways to fund his classroom’s needs. For a first-year band program, the most important materials required are instruments and music! He was hard pressed to find either. Meyer Levin School of the Performing Arts has been around since 1954. It encompasses three different distinct academies of students from sixth to eighth grade. They are called Eagle, Falcon, and Phoenix Academy. Emphasis is placed on the manageable class sizes and teacher to student ratios. Mr. Oberlin, the instrumental specialist at Eagle Academy needed a hand. He explains, “Unfortunately, we do not have much of a budget for instruments, and some of my students are left having to share with their peers. This makes it difficult to motivate them, as they are frequently switching on and off of their instruments, and aren’t able to fully participate in rehearsals. This is most apparent in our percussion section, where a lack of instruments has left them sharing a single snare drum amongst 6 percussionists, along with a single marching bass drum that is barely functional.” As a graduate of a percussion performance program, I understand his plight of connecting to the percussion section in the back of the classroom. With limited instruments, it would be very difficult to keep their attention when there aren’t enough instruments to go around. “Even in the earliest stages of their musical careers, my students show an immense love for music, and they all deserve to participate at the same level as everybody else,” Oberlin says. “In obtaining these instruments, my students will be able to use them in band rehearsals in order to participate with the rest of the group. With only one snare drum at our disposal, our percussion sections does not have the means to participate fully, and our band is sorely missing the pulse of a full rhythm section. In the few short weeks since they’ve begun to play, my students have shown a remarkable dedication to learning an instrument. I hope to be able to repay their efforts by providing them with instruments that will add great depth to our band.” Needless to say, we understood the need for more percussion instruments and supplies so we made sure to take care of Mr. Oberlin and his academy students, thanks to your help! Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, I cannot put into words how much your kindness and generosity will impact my band students. My percussionists have been making due with having to share beaten and broken instruments, and despite this they are some of my most passionate and dedicated students.Thank you so much for your generosity in completely funding my project. My students are going to be overjoyed when I share the great news with them tomorrow. The ability to play on their own instruments will help me in giving them a great start to their musical careers. Christmas has truly come early for my band this year. Foundations such as yours help to further the dreams and ambitions of students and ensure that they can discover a love of music. You have my most sincere thanks, and my students will cherish these instruments for years to come. With gratitude, Mr. Oberlin As our mission states, Keeping The Blues Alive is a non-profit charity dedicated to preserving blues heritage – yes. However, we are unbiased when it comes to enriching the lives of students pursuing music education and the passionate, selfless teachers who dedicate their time and efforts into teaching them. Music is an efficient and tactical way of encouraging creativity but sustaining boundaries and rules when necessary. If more of our education departments in this country realized the tremendous benefits of music education and arts a s a whole, we would be, once again, one of the most innovative countries around the world. If you would like to join us in our quest for music advocacy and save music education in schools, click here to donate and help us fund another project for a school in need. We assure you that you won’t be disappointed in the results. Invest in our future, by investing in our children. Invest in their creativity and invest in the activities that allow them to grow in precision but also leave room for interpretation and self discovery. Thank you for helping us keep music education in schools!

December 12, 2014

Donation of the Week

ft. lauderdale, fl – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation has mad a tremendous impact on a local Broward County music program. Mr. Eichelberger, the school’s music director was in need of music stands and method books for his band class. “To me band is much more then just an extracurricular activity. It is an opportunity for me to touch the life of a child by allowing them to see the larger world through performances and trips,” Mr. Eichelberger says. “It’s also a chance to help my students see the impact they can make on their community and the world.” Over 90% of the students come from single parent family homes and low income environments. They look forward to school and especially look forward to other stimulating activities such as band, chorus and other extra-curricular activities. For New Gen Prep High School of Performing Arts, an inaugural band program was exactly what they needed! The Standard of Excellence method books are one of the most popular band methods in the world. Guaranteed, if you visit 10 schools in any state, you will come across these method books, equipping students and teachers with a graduated approach to learning the skills needed for musicianship. For advanced learners, there are advanced lessons – making certain that every student feels challenged and engaged in the activity. We are excited to be a part of this band’s history. The activity is extremely beneficial for the students involved, and the project is fully in line with our mission! Mr. Eichelberger expresses his gratitude: Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, On behalf of myself and the Band Members of the NGHS Lion Pride Band we would like to thank you for helping us reach our goal. It is people like you that us provide great opportunities in communities that need a helping hand. Our students have been working hard to get the band program at our school off the ground. With this equipment and books we can recruit more students to join this effort. We are honored to be a part of this story! If you would like to donate to next week’s project, click here!

December 5, 2014

Donation of the Week

whittier, ca – Thanks to your donations this week, Keeping The Blues Alive donated iMac hardware to Richard Graves Middle School! Students are learning their instruments, learning to read music, and working with Mr. Shiffermiller and each other to understand the beginnings of playing music. “My Students are very smart and tend to love coming in and participating in my class. The students are in a low socio-economic area but as all students tend to be excited about learning new and different things. My class is one of a short list of elective classes at my school. Students often have a freedom to express themselves (musically) that they don’t have in most of the other classes they take.” The computer and desk will mainly be used with an application called Smart Music. This application helps students practice by recording their performance and analyzing it to help students understand possible mistakes. It also has a large collection of music that the students can play in addition to the required materials. This software also allows Mr. Shiffermiller to assign exams to students that they can accomplish on their own so class time is dedicated to instruction. The largest advantage of having this computer is for students who either don’t have a computer at home and/or are unable to afford the yearly subscription. Students will be able to use the software before school and during lunch to accomplish tasks. All students should have access to computers and software to help them progress. This should not be limited to students who can afford the materials.

November 26, 2014

Donation of the Week

waco, tx – Thanks to your donations this week, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated new trumpets, clarinets and supplies at Lake Air Mont Magnet school! In Waco, Texas, Mr. Woods is preparing for his five (5) music courses – Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble and even a Steel Drum Ensemble! However, with almost all of the students receiving free or reduced lunch, there is little room for parents to supply their children with enough music instruments to go around. This means that in between class courses, some students are unable to practice, which slows down the overall productivity of the classroom. Lake Air is a public Montessori Magnet School. Montessori schools are known for their forward thinking teaching methods and practices. By nurturing a creative learning environment and allowing students to grow on their own pace, Montessori schools typically produce a well-rounded and socially fit student. The educational method is characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect to children’s natural psychological development. As it translates to music, students learn how to communicate, work and perform individually and in groups. There are plenty of outlets for both. In an effort to raise more money for the instruments, Mr. Woods entered a project request to outfit his bands with new clarinets, trumpets, and their respective mouthpieces. “The band has grown in size in the two years of existence (80 members in 2012, 177 in 2014) and quality, and the students are excited to make music,” he adds. “I teach 4th graders through 8th grade, and classes are multi-age (4th-6th graders and 7th-8th graders). With these additional musical instruments, not as many of my students will have to share instruments with other students. This will allow the students to take their instruments home and practice. Regular practice is a key factor in how quickly the student improves, and how successful they will be as a musician. By teaming up with the Donors Choose Community, we were able to successfully fund Mr. Woods’ project! If you would like to make a donation and support music education, click here!

November 22, 2014

Donation of the Week

KTBA Funds New Instruments for Band Program upper marlboro, md – Thanks to your donations this week, Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation provided a new instrument grant for students at Kettering Middle School (Prince George’s County Public School District). As with many other music programs, students are evaluated at the end of each period, term or semester. They are called proficiencies, juries and sometimes may simply require a recital or ensemble performance. However, for the students at Kettering Middle School, these tests are often difficult because students have not enjoyed ample experience on their instruments. Sometimes there aren’t enough to go around to all the students. By purchasing new instruments for these kids, more students will have the opportunity to get more practice time. Any musician knows, there is only one way to learn an instrument; Play it. In a week or so, the instruments will arrive to the school; They will receive two student-sized flutes, a new clarinet, supplies for their cello program, and of course, rosin. Ms. Lee expresses her gratitude on behalf of the students and faculty: Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, I am so excited to get this news today! Thank you so much for investing in OUR students. It is amazing to see that there are truly supporters for Music Education!This gift will help so many young people that truly have a love for music. I have a young group of students with an insatiable appetite for music, and they are now steps closer to being completely prepared to perform with all of the essential materials. Again, thank you so much and I can’t wait to introduce these inform my students!With gratitude, Ms. L We continue to enrich the lives of students and teachers around the country. If you would like to be a part of our growing history of successfully funded music projects.. click here to make a donation!

November 14, 2014