KTBA Weekly Donation Archives - Page 5 of 17

KTBA Weekly Donation

Instruments Donated to L.A. County Music Program

LOS ANGELES, CA – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated two (2) acoustic guitars and a brand new saxophone to the music program at Hilda L. Solis Learning Academy in Los Angeles, CA! “The majority of my students have mild to moderate disabilities and attend a school in an underserved community,” Mr. Alvarez, the music teacher, explains. “This group of students make a strong effort to persevere in whatever they do! They are brilliant and are not afraid of any challenges. These students are also dedicated and determined to continue to master their skills with playing instruments.” This is a student-led program in which they teach and learn amongst themselves. Nevertheless, their progression continues to show through their performances. “The music program at our high school has become popular among students,” he adds. “As it continues to grow, it would be nice if we could provide students with the opportunity to explore a variety of instruments.” These instruments would be a great addition to the group as most choose to play the guitar in their first exposure to the program. “The saxophone would be a nice way to also introduce a different type of sound,” Mr. Alvarez explains. “Nevertheless, students enjoy the opportunity of exploring their musical curiosity. As a program continues to evolve, the plan is to encourage this group of students to perform amongst their classmates and community.” It is his goal to invite these musically-inclined students to perform at their graduation ceremony this coming year! Thanks to Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like you, these instruments will arrive within a week. We look forward to future updates from Mr. Alvarez and his wonderful students! Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation is a 501c3 organization that makes a donation to a school in need of music instruments, supplies, sheet music, and more every week! Your donation helps us keep music in schools, while preserving blues heritage. Without your support, we would not be able to reach as many students around the country. We are grateful for your generosity. To date, KTBA has reached over 63,000 students by sponsoring over 400 various music projects! The journey has been incredible! If you would like to help us to continue to grow, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible. Thank you for keeping music education in schools!

August 26, 2019

KTBA Donates Musical Instruments to Middle School Students

FLAGSTAFF, AZ – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated a classroom set of ukuleles, percussion instruments, a guitar, and mandolin to the music students at Peak School in Flagstaff, AZ! “The students at our school need support from our community and are very eager to work hard to succeed!” says Mrs. Blickhahn, a first-year teacher at Peak School. “This will be my first year teaching 7th/8th grade and I will teach all subjects. The students have been very welcoming since I signed my contract at the end of the school year, and I can’t wait to get started. I am also a mother of four and I want to get a little support so I can afford all of these projects this year.” Much to our dismay, teachers like Mrs. Blickhahn are still paying out-of-pocket for the supplies they need in order to achieve the benchmark goals they have set for their music classrooms. “The students would benefit from having access to musical instruments in the general education classroom.” she explains. “They do not have music class everyday, and this would help them to build their skills and learn to play instruments and sing together. Teaching children to play instruments, sing, and to learn to read music is very important. It is slowly becoming less common in schools. I love to play instruments and would like to share this with my students. I am particularly fond of teaching middle school students to play ukulele and string instruments. I am a general subject middle school teacher, and I would love to bring as much art and music into the curriculum as possible. I would also like to begin leading a ukulele club.” Thanks to the generosity of Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like you, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation was able to successfully donate these instruments and provide a reliable foundation upon which to grow from. Mrs. Blickhahn expresses her gratitude: Thank you from The PEAK School! Today was the first day of my very first teaching contract. I have been going to school, working part time as a substitute, and raising my four daughters. The news that my project was funded came today on my first day and I’m so excited I could cry! This a dream come true! I can only imagine the opportunities that this may open for these students. What a blessing this is for us all! Thank you very much from all of us at The PEAK School. Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation is a 501c3 organization that makes a donation to a school in need of music instruments, supplies, sheet music, and more every week! Your donation helps us keep music in schools, while preserving blues heritage. Without your support, we would not be able to reach as many students around the country. We are grateful for your generosity. To date, KTBA has reached over 63,000 students by sponsoring over 400 various music projects! The journey has been incredible! If you would like to help us to continue to grow, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible! Thank you for keeping music education in schools!

July 31, 2019

KTBA Donates Music Supplies to Elementary School

FORT COLLINS, CO – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated an ALESIS 8-pc Drum Kit and a Flagship Music Rug for the students at O’Dea Core Knowledge Elementary School in Fort Collins, CO! Students will enjoy an updated music room as the music rug encourages group activities, singing and dancing at a critical age of their development. Mrs. McLaren, a teacher at O’Dea Elementary says “My students have a love of learning, creating, and performing music! A general music classroom is a bit different from a standard grade level classroom in that every student in the school is a student in my classroom. This brings vast diversity into our classroom culture and into my teaching! In our daily learning we move, sing, dance, and play along with various styles of music to meet both the needs and interests of students and the requirements of our music standards and curriculum. Students come in to my classroom with varying levels of musical skill, knowledge and exposure, this makes my students and their learning needs unique.” Students at O’Dea were learning modern music with outdated materials and technology; crowding onto an ancient rug, doing their best to master skills and concepts of both modern and classic music with the limited and outdated resources available to them. “Updating our rug and drum set would allow students a comfortable learning environment along with the equipment and instrumetns they need to excel in the Little Kids Rock/Modern Band program offered as an enrichment opportunity here at O’Dea. A bright, clean, new rug will allow students more learning space when seated; students would have a clean learning space to sit, listen, write, sing, play instrumetns, and respond to music through our engaging lessons and activities. An electric drum set will bring new life, energy, and excitment to our fledgling Little Kids Rock/Modern Band program, through this program students as young as third grade are given the opportunity to form a band with their friends and learn music in a new way. Through modern rock and pop music students learn a new instrumen and how to work together as a band to master new skills and learning concepts such as chord progressions and song writing. Adding electric drums will give more students the opportunity to learn the drums as my clssroom currently only houses one standard drum set. Electric drums save space and offer quieter rehearsals with less disruption to the classrooms surrounding mine.” Thanks to the generosity of Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like you, Keeping the Blues Alive has funded Mrs. McLaren’s project and the materials will arrive just in time to prep for the new school year 🙂 Mrs. McLaren expresses her gratitude: Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, Inc., Words cannot express how thankful I am for your support of music education! I can’t wait to see my students faces when they see the new resources they will get to use to enhance their experience this year! I am especially grateful for my students with special needs who will be able to better engage in classroom activities with structured seating and adaptive equipment. Thank you all so much! With gratitude, Mrs. McLaren Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation is a 501c3 organization that makes a donation to a school in need of music instruments, supplies, sheet music, and more every week! Your donation helps us keep music in schools, while preserving blues heritage. Without your support, we would not be able to reach as many students around the country. We are grateful for your generosity. To date, KTBA has reached over 63,000 students by sponsoring over 400 various music projects! The journey has been incredible! If you would like to help us to continue to grow, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible! Thank you for keeping music education in schools!

July 25, 2019

KTBA Donates Ukuleles to Charter School Music Program

GREECE, NY – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive purchased twenty (20) brand new ukuleles for the music program at Rochester Academy Charter School! “Our school does not have many instruments for students to explore and create with,” Ms. Fisher explains. “Ukuleles will allow students to learn a string instrument, create songs, play in an ensemble and explore their musical interests. My students are natural musicians and amaze me every day. They really love music and have shown great growth this year. Before this year, many students did not know how to read music and did not have any knowledge of musical concepts such as dynamics, harmony, and pulse. They want to learn about composers, music genres and instruments.” According to Ms. Fisher, many of her young musicians come into the classroom feeling alone and isolated. However, after participating in the various musical activities, they leave with a sense of belonging and a feeling of family. “My students come from all different walks of life and living situations,” she adds. “I strive to create an environment in my classroom that allows everyone to feel like they belong and have a voice. Students often love creating music because they are able to express themselves. As she planned for the new school year 2019-2020, she was looking at the music instrument selection at school to take an appropriate inventory. Her students loved to come to music class to create and learn. Her classroom served as a safe haven for many students. Unfortunately, they were not able to play anything other than drums. “Ukuleles will enable my students to explore their musicality in a new deeper way. Ukuleles use the treble clef which would allow students to use that knowledge of music notation. These instruments will allow the information and music styles to come alive for students.” Thanks to Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like you, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation was able to fund Ms. Fisher’s ukulele project! 20 ukuleles will be delivered to the school in time for summer preparations! We look forward to catching up with Ms. Fisher once the kids get back into the weekly schedules! Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation is a 501c3 organization that makes a donation to a school in need of music instruments, supplies, sheet music, and more every week! Your donation helps us keep music in schools, while preserving blues heritage. Without your support, we would not be able to reach as many students around the country. We are grateful for your generosity. To date, KTBA has reached over 63,000 students by sponsoring over 400 various music projects! The journey has been incredible! If you would like to help us to continue to grow, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible! Thank you for keeping music education in schools!

July 17, 2019

KTBA Donates New Saxophone to Elementary Music Program

RISING SUN, IN – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated a brand new Student Model Prelude by Conn-Slemer Alto Saxophone to the music program at Switzerland county Elementary School! “Our school is the larger of the two elementary schools in our district with an average of about 485-500 students,” Ms. Gasser says. Ms. Rachael Gasser teaches music at SCES. “Our 5th and 6th-grade bands have more than doubled the past three years with up to 63 members strong. We are a struggling and low socioeconomic status school and community with 59% of our students eligible for free or reduced lunch. A majority of our students and families are not able to rent a band instrument from a music store and therefore rely on playing school-owned instruments.” Due to the increasing student numbers, the instrument inventory at Switzerland County Elementary is in desperate need of more instruments of higher quality and durability. “Our band students perform twice a year for our community as well as on a monthly basis for our school in our character counts parades. My students are still excited about band and need more instruments and supplies.” Keeping the Blues Alive Strives to make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged youth and the music programs that make efforts to strengthen them through the power of music! We teamed up with Donors Choose to fund Ms. Gasser’s project of bringing this brand new saxophone into the woodwind section of their band program! This could not have been accomplished without the support of Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like you! “This saxophone will be used by a variety of students in financial need for many years at our school, Ms. Gasser adds. “With such an increase in student numbers, we needed your help to increase our school instruments. With 59% of our school on free and reduced lunch, our average family could not afford to rent or buy a band instrument from a music store. Therefore, we provided school-owned instruments for those students. Every saxophone in our entire district had been played by various students in financial need for the past three years and we needed more.” As a result of the fundraiser, Ms. Gasser will be able to grant more children access to music instruments for years to come! We look forward to working with her in the future as well. Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation is a 501c3 organization that makes a donation to a school in need of music instruments, supplies, sheet music, and more every week! Your donation helps us keep music in schools, while preserving blues heritage. Without your support, we would not be able to reach as many students around the country. We are grateful for your generosity. To date, KTBA has reached over 63,000 students by sponsoring over 400 various music projects! The journey has been incredible! If you would like to help us to continue to grow, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible! Thank you for keeping music education in schools!

July 10, 2019

KTBA Donates Marching Equipment to Cullman Middle School

CULLMAN, AL – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated marching equipment to the middle school students at Cullman Middle School! “My students are energetic, driven, and team oriented,” Mr. Teuscher says. Teuscher teaches music at Cullman. “My middle school marching band has about 100 students with about 20 students in the percussion section. We field a full marching drumline made up of primarily 7th and 8th graders. Each summer and fall, we learn a halftime production and parade music to play for our community every week throughout the season.” His students love performing and playing music together. Each musician has a unique and important role in the instrumentation of the band. Additionally, many students are involved in various athletic programs and clubs making them very well-rounded students. “Most school drumlines have 10-12 students,” Mr. Teuscher says. “Our middle school drumline for the 2019-2020 school year has 18 students in grades 7 and 8! I am always ready to instruct the students and get them ready for performing in the fall, but we are short on percussion equipment! I believe that every student in the band needs to have fun and contribute to the music with their instrument. I would love to create a new section of percussionists for next fall with some new equipment and some unique sounds. This would allow each student to participate fully, even with our growth!” Thanks to the donations of Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like YOU, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation was able to donate brand new percussion equipment that will allow Cullman Middle School to field more drummers on the field! Cymbals, clamps, and supplies will help strengthen the confidence of the program from Mr. Teuscher and administration, down to the newest musician! Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation is a 501c3 organization that makes a donation to a school in need of music instruments, supplies, sheet music, and more every week! Your donation helps us to keep music in schools, while preserving blues heritage. Without your support, we would not be able to reach as many students around the country. We are grateful for your generosity. To date, KTBA has reached over 63,000 students by sponsoring 400 various music projects! The journey has been incredible! If you would like to help us to continue to grow, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible! Thank you for keeping music education in schools!

July 3, 2019

KTBA Donates New Drum Hardware to Percussion Program

VINELAND, NJ – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated brand new drum hardware and supplies to the percussion program at Vineland High School! “My high school students were curious and eager to learn about the many instruments in the percussion family,” Mr. Eric Sikorski explained. “Students enrolled in a variety of courses, such as concert ensemble and percussion classes, used this equipment [however] many students were unable to use the equipment due to disrepair, size discrepancies, and not enough of it to go around. This made engaging everyone difficult, if not impossible at times. Without enough working/correctly sized instruments to go around, students were not able to participate fully. Working in a percussion ensemble without enough instruments made it very difficult!” By obtaining more equipment and repairing existing instruments, Mr. Sikorski would be able to involve more students in a collaborative environment. “My goal was to ensure that each student in my class had a working, actual instrument to play on every day! While not the most exciting materials, these were necessary for both our band rehearsals and numerous percussion classes. Instruments were too small and/or are in need of repair; we also needed a few more instruments to ensure all students could participate in percussion ensemble music,” he adds. “I have seniors using snare drums that can only go high enough for a 10-year-old! Both sets of bongos have broken heads and our marimba has only half of the bars that are able to function. When playing as an entire class for percussion ensemble, there are not enough instruments to cover all of the parts. This causes some students to not be able to participate. My goal is to get every student in the class playing and sharing in the experience of making music together. Those are the times when the most learning happens, with everyone actively participating and working together.” Thanks to the generosity of Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like you, Keeping the Blues Alive funded Mr. Sikorski’s project! He expresses his gratitude: Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, Inc., I sincerely thank you for your generous donation. My students and I are greatly appreciative of your generosity. The materials you have helped provide will positively impact students for many years to come. It will allow me to fix and upgrade equipment to allow a more collaborative working environment; while continuing to foster a love of music! With gratitude, Mr. Eric Sikorski Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation is a 501c3 organization that makes a donation to a school in need of music instruments, supplies, sheet music, and more every week! Your donation helps us to keep music in schools, while preserving blues heritage. Without your support, we would not be able to reach as many students around the country. We are grateful for your generosity. To date, KTBA has reached over 63,000 students. If you would like to help us to continue to grow, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible! Thank you for keeping music education in schools!

June 4, 2019

KTBA Donates Keyboards to Elementary Music Classroom

VALE, NORTH CAROLINA – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated a dozen brand new mini-keyboards to the music students at Banoak Elementary School! “I am so grateful to work with a group of students that are well-behaved and come to class ready to soak up any knowledge and skills I can teach them!” Ms. Holman explains. “Given the opportunity and resources, my students could personally exceed beyond their normal expectations and enhance their musical abilities to the fullest learning to play the piano. When I was six years old, I took piano lessons for a year!” Research has shown that exposing children to music during early development helps them learn the sounds and meanings of words. Additionally, dancing to music helps children build motor skills while allowing them to practice self-expression. (© 2015 Program for Early Parent Support (PEPS), a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization). “The music reading skills and experience I gained from that year followed me all the way into my adult life and helped me be able to be ahead of the game when I started playing trumpet in middle school,” she adds. “It’s one of the many things that helped shape my talents and led me into a career into music education.” Ms. Holman hopes to give all of her students the same head start into music that she once had by providing exceptional music instruction on the piano. These pianos will allow her the ability to teach multiple students at the same time, just like any other piano class in today’s more modern piano labs. “It’s proven that using both sides of the brain to read and perform music improves the brain’s learning and reasoning capabilities. The addition of keyboards to my school will not only allow growth in music, but growth in learning ability as well. Learning to play the piano will transfer over into their overall music experience and the lessons learned will apply to all instruments. Students will use these pianos to play individual pieces of music, accompany songs as a class, and perform for their peers, parents, and the community. Having pianos will tie all the music learning in our class into one place with one instrument. Students will learn how to read rhythms, notes on the staff, and how to confidently perform.” Thanks to the donations of Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like YOU, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation funded Ms. Holman’s project. Keyboards will be delivered in a week! Ms. Holman expresses her gratitude: Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, Inc., Thank you so much for funding my project. I was literally screaming with excitement for my students as they have been asking me all year to learn to play the piano. I’ve been playing since age 6 and can not wait to pass on this knowledge and ability to them. Nothing can ever replace putting an instrument in a child’s hands and teaching them to perform. I can’t thank you enough. With gratitude, Ms. Holman Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation is a 501c3 organization that makes a donation to a school in need of music instruments, supplies, sheet music, and more every week! Your donation helps us to keep music in schools, while preserving blues heritage. Without your support, we would not be able to reach as many students around the country. We are grateful for your generosity. To date, KTBA has reached over 62,000 students. If you would like to help us to continue to grow, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible! Thank you for keeping music education in schools!

May 29, 2019

KTBA Donates African Percussion Instruments to Bar Nunn Elementary!

BAR NUNN, WY – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated African drums and percussion instruments to the music program at Bar Nunn Elementary! Instruments include: a shekere, three (3) djembes, talking drums, bongos, agogo bells, shakers, and tambourines. Mrs. Jill Jones teaches elementary music at Bar Nunn Elementary School. “In this area [Bar Nunn, Wyoming], we have little access to supplies other than online and costs are usually enormous,” Mrs. Jones explains. “Elementary Music in the past hasn’t been a favorite subject and since I am new to the school, I want to change that mindset.” Bar Nunn is a Title I school which means that the school receives financial assistance due to its percentage of students from low-income households. In addition, they receive free or reduced-cost lunches as an effort to ensure that all children have an opportunity to succeed. However, students are, indeed, excited to attend Bar Nunn and want to learn and be creative. “Music needs to be full of fun and excitement for all involved and keep students engaged in learning,” she says. “All students are required to take Elementary Music in this District. I see students twice a week for 30 minutes. Music is always the last to be thought of in [acquiring] budgets, curriculum, and supplies. Everything is usually hand-me-downs which is nice but sometimes something new boosts the program. I feel they deserve the new, fun, and exciting items for Music. The total number of students that would benefit from this project is 325 students Pre-K to 5th Grade.” One of the most demanding, yet satisfying teaching subjects in music education is rhythm. As a result, teachers tend to appreciate the intricate drumming techniques and theory of African drumming. “I am so excited about this project,” Jones exclaims. “The students helped create this project which makes it even more exciting. We would like to do African Rhythm Circles using drums and different types of shakers during class, award ceremonies, and an after school program! Our school is in Bar Nunn, Wyoming so we do not have the access to multi-cultural performances or presentations like bigger cities. I have been showing students different musical genres and cultures on Youtube but actually playing these special instruments would mean more to the students. I would be able to go deeper into the African music and culture in Music Class. Using African drums and shakers will help this project come to life for students. Keeping students engaged and learning in elementary music class can be a challenge, but having the tools that help with an engaged learning environment such as acquiring these African music instruments and books will generate an excitement for music that will last forever.” Mrs. Jones expresses her gratitude: Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, Inc., Thank you so very much for another project funded! I really appreciate the opportunity to start exposing students to many different genres starting with African Rhythm Circles. I couldn’t have done this without your help! The students will be excited that their project was funded! Thank you so much! With gratitude, Mrs. Jones Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation is a 501c3 organization that makes a donation to a school in need of music instruments, supplies, sheet music, and more every week! Your donation helps us to keep music in schools, while preserving blues heritage. Without your support, we would not be able to reach as many students around the country. We are grateful for your generosity. To date, KTBA has reached over 60,000 students. If you would like to help us to continue to grow, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible! Thank you for keeping music education in schools!

May 20, 2019