MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated two (2) brand new Yamaha P-45LXB Digital Pianos to the music program at Milwaukee School of the Arts! “My students focus on piano practice for 1 hour every day in our keyboard classroom preparing for performances and juries,” says Mr. Heinzel. “They are very dedicated to improving their skill set at the piano and inspire each other through their creativity and hard work. Some of them are very good at reading while others excel at [improvisation] and composing.” Thanks to advances in technology over the last decade, more schools are beginning to find better and safer ways to allow collaboration amongst these young, hard-working performers. “One student wrote a composition that we shared with a piano student in Taiwan. The piano student in Taiwan plans to learn the piece and submit a recording of it back to us.” According to Mr. Heinzel’s data, nearly all of the students come from low-income households. By equipping the classroom with more pianos, the students will have additional practice time for collaborations as well as their own juries and competitions. “Students will have the opportunity to prepare for recitals, juries and other performances by practicing piano 1 hour every day. Upcoming Events include a “paint and play” recital in November, a formal recital at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in May, and WSMA in March,” Mr. Heinzel adds. “Piano students also prepare jury accomplishments at the end of each term when the piano students accompany orchestra students on their solos. This gives piano students the opportunity to work individually, together with other musicians and receive coaching from professional musicians. Keyboards are a preferred medium for practicing instead of acoustic pianos since the keyboards don’t need to be tuned. Also students wear headphones while practicing thereby not disturbing other students who are practicing.” The Yamaha P-45LXB is a great classroom piano because it is full sized, weighted, and has the appropriate headphone jacks for private practice.  Thanks to Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like you, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation was able to fund the two keyboards for Mr. Heinzel’s classroom.  Keeping the Blues Alive is a 501c3 organization that makes a donation to a school in need of music instruments, supplies, sheet music, and more every week! Your donations help us keep music in schools, while preserving blues heritage. In order to keep the ball rolling, we appreciate your donations to keep music education funding alive in schools across the country. If you would like to help us to continue to make an impact on music education in America, click here to make a donation! All donations are fully tax-deductible and go to a GREAT cause! Thank you for supporting music education for the next generation!