DEARBORN, MI – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated ten (10) brand new guitars to the music department at Henry Ford Elementary School in Dearborn, MI! “My students are creative, thoughtful and full of questions!” Ms. Holmes exclaims. “They absolutely love hands-on, active, engaging projects and they love to learn new instruments. They come to music class each day ready to try new things and take brave chances in order to grow both personally and musically.” Most of the students that attend Henry Ford live at or below the poverty line. Many qualify for free lunch provided by the government programs. “My students love music class because it allows them to be expressive and creative. They love to move, sing, perform and play new instruments,” she adds. “We put on performances throughout the year that allows them to show the community how much they love music. They would love the opportunity to have more meaningful, musical experiences and would benefit from every resource they can get to enhance those experiences. My goal is to get my 5th-grade students motivated to continue being musicians after elementary school. Not every student is meant to be in a concert band setting and learning guitar will let them pursue a different genre of music.” Recognizing the need for contemporary instruments Keeping the Blues Alive funded Ms. Holmes’ project and almost a dozen guitars will arrive within the next week. “These 5th graders will be using the guitars to start a modern band project. They will be learning chords, scales, songs, and creating their own music. The end goal is to create a band with a group of friends. The guitars will help my students be more creative and motivated to finish their elementary music career on a positive note. My goal is to get my 5th-grade students motivated to continue being musicians after elementary school. Not every student is meant to be in a concert band setting and learning guitar will let them pursue a different genre of music.” Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation is grateful for all of your donations in helping us achieve Ms. Holmes’ goal of $1,000 for these guitars. It is because of your generosity and selflessness, that hundreds of kids will have the opportunity to learn guitar techniques and skills that will carry over into other facets of their education for years to come! We are 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 65,000 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!

frankenmuth, mi  – Thank to your donations this week, Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation support this pilot program for music technology! “As a 30 year veteran teacher, I feel that in order to be as fresh as my students, as knowledgeable as a college graduate, and as dynamic as I personally expect myself to be, then I need to stay in-tune with not only education as a whole, but the ever-changing world of technology.” These were the words from music teacher, Mrs. Putnam of List Elementary School as she prepares for a big conference in Boyne City! “I am a K-4 grade music teacher and a high school vocal music director. I see over 300 students a day. My average classrooms have around 40 students, but are combined to perform musical performances. My classroom is dynamic and ever-changing as I may teach a lesson which involves students singing, playing Orff instruments, and moving in a dance or game, all at the same time. My students love music class, and are highly energized by the daily exposure.” Mrs. Putnam’s lessons are taught by combining literature, art, dance, and technology. As music advocates and supports of the STEM to STEAM movement, we were particularly drawn to this project as it incorporated so many subjects of the core curriculum into its success!  Teachers are working together to combine their resources and curricula to cater to the music and arts programs that are slowly fading. This funded project will stimulate creativity, collaboration, and enthusiasm into the classroom – something that is always necessary for students to grow. Thanks to KTBA funding and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mrs. Putnam will be attending the Boyne City Technology Conference on June 19, 2015. This conference costs $40 and in order to stay within the limits of this project she will pay this portion on her own. The fine arts have great opportunities to transition the every-day classroom into a vital and growing class of exploration, knowledge and creativity. Mrs. Putnam wishes to continue this learning, and be able to implement it into the classroom so that it is a class that demonstrates the combination of singing, instruments, movement and technology. By learning how to implement musical apps into the classroom, she can put students into stations and assess individual and whole group growth using the combination of technology and musical knowledge. Students will be able to connect piano keyboards with online apps and learn music theory principles. With a fully funded project, Mrs. Putnam and her students will be set up for success in the music technology area! Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, It is with my sincerest gratitude that I write thanking you for such a generous donation. I am humbled that people care so much about what I do in my classroom. I cannot fully express in words the excitement I feel about the opportunity that has been given me, and cannot wait to share the end results with you as I learn, explore and create with my students.This project will allow me to research and create dynamic lessons that will expand on my current knowledge by combining technology with a piano keyboard. I will have the opportunity to learn new strategies in music, and give me exposure to the most relevant and trendy topics that I can share with my students. I look forward to this new chapter in my career, and the professional development I will gain as a veteran teacher. Thank you for believing in me and supporting the fine arts in education. Our nation is great, because of visionary people like you that give our students opportunities to build a better tomorrow. With gratitude, Mrs. Putnam To fund next week’s project, click here!

eastpointe, mi – Thanks to your donations this week, Keeping The Blues Alive, together with AT&T Aspire, donated new drum heads to the drumline at East Detroit High School! The school’s band director, Mr. Chouinard explains: “My school contains a lot of students that are a part of low income families and or are considered at risk due to their emotional or physical well-being. Most of the students I teach are genuinely nice kids that are driven to be successful, but have had their fair share of neglect. Most of the equipment in our school is falling apart or is damaged beyond repair, but our funding is too small to keep up with the need. My students know that we don’t have a lot of financial support, so they are used to treating what we have with respect to prevent further damage. My students hope to see the program return to its former glory days of being a nationally recognized program, but find it hard to be motivated at times when having to use damaged equipment.” Mr. Chouinard really wants to expand the drumline, as last season they only had five students involved. Thomas Bertrand knows this all too well. He managed Educators and knows just how important music is. Speaking, Thomas said, “We know how beneficial marching band programs can be!  They teach students about hard work, persistence, discipline, and regiment.  In addition, playing music is fun in general!  If you aren’t having fun, then what’s the point?” “With more snares available, we will be able to provide an opportunity for more students to learn how to play snare drum in the marching band setting, with a strong focus on rudimentary studies, while growing our numbers for future years. We only had two students using snares last year in part due to not having enough functioning equipment to go around.” Looking at the bottom line, we had to do it, folks.  Doesn’t it sound like they could use a hand?  Do they need a $500,000 budget to save their program? No.  They need drum heads.  So we made it happen – TOGETHER! “Thank you for your support and contribution to this project. Thanks to your donation, you have allowed our program to reach more students through music and provide more opportunity for our students to play. It feels good to know that others share in our vision to bring music education to as many students as possible. We now are another step closer to our goal of providing a quality education for our students in order to help create a brighter future for new generations of students. We look forward to having a a wonderful marching band season this fall of which you have helped make possible.” With gratitude, Mr. Chouinard This is just one example of how your small donations make a big difference in the lives of many kids out there looking to music for guidance.  Your small donations go far, and we make sure of it. If you would like to help us fund next week’s project, click here!  We promise it’ll be a good one 😉 Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation is a nonprofit 501c3 organization that seeks to offset the loss of music education programs due to budget cuts for arts and music.  We fund school programs and individual scholarships.  We are working on a pretty super awesome form for you to be able to send us your projects, too!  Stay tuned. Grateful for your support, SH Click Here to Donate 🙂

This week, Keeping The Blues Alive wants to tell you about a school in Taylor, MI called Quest Charter Academy!  The school is located just southwest of its neighboring major city – Detroit, and boasts a young 5th-8th grade student body comprised of students from many different neighboring communities.  On a good day, their parents can drop them off; On a bad day, when they can’t afford the tank of gas to get there, the students are excused.  The students are brave, they are courageous, and are exposed to many life-altering circumstances that we all know children should not have to endure. However, when these kids come to Ms. King’s music class, they are seemingly transported into another dimension where their opinions matter, their worries are lifted, and they are free to express themselves.  The students really care about learning to perform music; Ms. King enrolled them in the district Solo and Ensemble Adjudication Program, where her students received Division 1 and 2 ratings! When faced with the task of trying to find suitable music to teach these children, Ms. King turned to jazz music.  Why Jazz?  In a nutshell, jazz music is performed using a set system of standard progressions and cadences, BUT easily yields to improvisation which is why so many different instrumentalists have been able to excel in this particular artform.  Pianists, Drummers, Bassists and pretty much every other instrument except harmonica (know any jazz harmonica players? Tell us!), know that at one point in their musical career, a teacher taught them the basics of jazz, 7th chords,The Circle of Fourths/Firths, or any combination of them. In order to get these kids started, Ms. King needed some equipment so the students would not need to be financially responsible for providing their own gear for such specific tone qualities.  The equipment consisted of a GSRM20 Mikro Short-Scale Bass Guitar (to accommodate for their small stature at this age level), an instrument cable and the standard Ultrabass BXL900 90W 1×12″ Bass Combo (the fundamentals). Upon reviewing the information submitted by Ms. King about the project cost, Keeping The Blues Alive AND Ms. King allocated money to fund her project, and the students will be receiving the music equipment very soon! [dropcap type=”circle” color=”#COLOR_CODE” background=”#COLOR_CODE”]”I[/dropcap] would whole heartedly like to thank you for taking the time to view my [Magnificently Musical Middle School Students] project and also personally make a contribution towards it. Your support and generous funding has allowed my students to receive their first school bass guitar and amplifier for our school jazz band.  I know they will be thrilled to hear how it impacts our sound and enhances the ensemble.   More importantly this organization and your support helps reinforce the idea that hard work and perseverance achieves success and a positive outcome.  I look forward to watching their faces light up when they see and hear the bass guitar during our rehearsals.  I hope you look forward to your upcoming thank you letters.  Once again thank you so much for taking the time to support music education and making a difference in students lives.”       – With gratitude, Ms. King We would like to thank our donors for supporting this project – Scott, Judy, and our donors the past week! To donate to the next music project, CLICK HERE TO DONATE! THANK YOU for keeping music and arts in our schools!