KTBA Donates Ukuleles to Middle School Students School Name – ILEAD Spring Meadows Teacher Name: Mr. Baumgartner HOLLAND, OH – Thanks to your donations, KTBA donated a classroom set of ukuleles to students at ILEAD Spring Meadows School! Much to the pleasure of local administration, parents, and staff, 2019 is the inaugural year for a dedicated music program to be implemented in this active, creative learning school. “My students have an eager thirst to learn and I want to give them an opportunity to learn music in new ways and leave a lasting impression on my students,” Music Teacher, Mr. Baumgartner explains. “I live for the days I get to see my students smiling and filled with joy as they get to continue their exploration into music,” he adds. “Incorporating new ways for my students to enjoy learning is the reason I became a music teacher.” Before the ukulele class was created, some of the students have never had a music class at all. “We’ve been working hard to learn kinesthetically, but it can be difficult without the use of musical instruments. Being able to introduce some instruments into their musical learning will help with my students excitement, and would also be good preparation for future endeavors. Since my school has never had a music program in the past, it has been pretty difficult to get and hold student interest. Much of this is due to a lack of resources available. There are very few instruments in the school but having a whole section on ukuleles would help peak the interest of the students.” The benefits of taking ukulele lessons are extremely beneficial. Thanks to the generosity of Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like YOU, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation was able to fund Mr. Baumgartner’s music project. Mr. Baumgartner expresses his gratitude: Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, Inc., Thank you so much for your generous donation! The students will definitely benefit from these instruments. One of the biggest issues I’ve had this year has been keeping the interest and excitement in the students, but bringing in a new instrument will definitely help with this. Thank you so much and I can’t wait to see how the students connect with the new ukuleles. With gratitude, Mr. Baumgartner 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. If you would like to help us fund next week’s project, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible! Thank you for keeping music education in schools! Shawn Hagood for Keeping the Blues Alive

KTBA Donates 16 Orff xylophones to Middle School Music Program Mrs. Angela Kadow Parma Community Middle School PARMA, OH – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated sixteen (16) brand new Orff xylophones to the music program at Parma Community Middle School! Parma Community Middle is a Constellation School that teaches students of all grade levels from Kindergarten through the 12th grade. The middle school takes on the 7th and 8th graders and boast class sizes of no more than 22 students per classroom. The charter programs are designed to provide parents with greater flexibility to choose where their children learn. They often have more flexibility on what curriculum the students are exposed to, including music programs at varying grade levels. “My students at our middle school are a part of a network of charter schools called CSchools,” Angela Kadow explains. Angela teaches music at Parma Community Middle. “CSchools serve the greater Cleveland, Ohio area. My students are a diverse group, in both the 7th and 8th grades. They span many cultures and learning preferences. They appreciate hands-on learning. When my students are actively participating in music, they learn what rhythms and melodies look like, sound like and feel like.” Students that study music at that grade level receive one music lesson per week. When they arrive, their checklist is full, as there is only so much time to completely absorb themselves into the lessons and build upon the lessons from the week before. Therefore, it is imperative to have enough instruments for the classroom so that all student get an opportunity to practice and perform on an instrument during the allotted time period. This increases overall productivity of the individual student as well as the success of the classroom as a whole. Mrs. Kadow documents the weekly progress of the students, but recognizes that adding more instruments to the inventory will boost productivity and further validate the program’s overall success. “The bigger xylophones from Lyons will allow the students to have experience playing in an ensemble setting, or playing with different instruments,” Angela explains. “Playing in an ensemble teaches musicians to listen to each other and allows the students to experience first-hand what harmonies sound like. The students will play music by numerous famous composers such as Mozart. They will also compose their own music. Students will write original fables and compose musical themes to accompany each of their characters.” Thanks to the mobility of the instruments and the class sizes, students can be paired up with each other to create different ensembles and therefore encourages camaraderie and socialization among their peers. Additionally, many different ensembles will take shape for various holiday concerts and public performances. Thanks to the generosity of Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like you, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation was able to donate these instruments to Mrs. Kadow’s music program. Now, every child will have an opportunity to get hands-on learning time with the instruments and provide a greater and wholesome learning experience from week to week. Every week, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation makes a donation to a school in need of music instruments, supplies, sheet music, and more! Your donation helps us to keep music in schools, while preserving blues heritage. If you would like to help us fund next week’s project, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible! Thank you for keeping music education in schools! Shawn Hagood for Keeping the Blues Alive

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