Past projects 7
Print and Plug!
Funded Nov 5, 2022Your donations kept the classroom printer running, and provided practical items for our electric pianos. These items are absolutely essential in our day-to-day activities.
One thing my students love about my classroom is how welcoming it is. Each student gets their own workstation, with everything they need for class. By having power to each of their electric pianos, the major component of their workstation is satisfied. Having clear numbers marking their assigned workstation keeps the beginning of class routines running smoother.
Another element of our room that delights students is having color copies of necessary hardcopies. While we are mostly digital, paper cannot be beat in many scenarios. Since writing is proven to be a helpful learning tool, we will mark music used on exams with reminders, and have the occasional worksheet to have a physical reminder for a concept. As a professor said, you must leave room for serendipity in education. More often than not, a student will start a discussion, and we are learning the concept for the week with something I did not plan. Being able to produce these resources in the classroom, and in color, has been a great help in reducing barriers not only in learning but in allowing students to take the lead in their own education.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Cory
Show It! Share It!
Funded Nov 10, 2022Your donations provided much-needed technology and scenery for our recitals. Since COVID, we have livestreamed all recitals. Even though we are now performing in person, the accessibility of having a livestream is essential for out of state or indisposed patrons to support our program.
The microphone and digital interface was a necessary component in providing quality sound. Not only for the piano playing, but for any speaking that takes place. Last year, the first year we had the microphone, we had a series of recitals performing pieces composed for major works of art. Our school's art majors created original works of art from the recordings of these piano solos. Being able to explain that to our audience, and not having these words lost to poor sound, was such a blessing.
The arch and flowers have been used not only for recitals, but to dress up any event our piano department has. We have received countless compliments on how polished everything looks!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Cory
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 7 other donors.Face to Face
Funded Feb 8, 2022Thank you so much for making this project a reality for my students! With the pandemic, all of our materials moved online, but the brain still works better to learn things when you can engage writing something down instead of typing it onto a PDF. With our new classroom printer, I am able to make on-demand prints of music for students. They love being able to mark their music with reminders. This can be as practical as where to place their hands to the abstract, such as how to get an expressive sound.
Also included in your giving were much-needed cables for on-screen technology in the classroom. It is so helpful for students to be able to see a live view of me modeling something on the piano, and these cables gave me the ability to hook up an overhead camera AND an interactive keyboard. The interactive keyboard lights up the keys I am playing on my "big screen" so students have clear feedback on them being in the right place!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Cory
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and one other donor.Practice Makes Better!
Funded Aug 28, 2021Thank you for providing students in need with ways to practice piano at home! As with any skill-based class, practice of that skill is necessary. Many students desire to learn the piano, but have the barrier of not being able to have a piano at home for a variety of reasons. Most of the time, they cannot afford it. This is so sad, because we have students who have the desire to learn, and the discipline to practice, but lack the materials due to their financial circumstances. By building an instrument library for checking out pianos and all necessary equipment, you have contributed to generations of students who will now be able to learn the piano!
Our next steps are continuing to build this library. Future donorschoose projects will be devoted to getting an instrument locker and more electric pianos (along with necessary equipment). We so appreciate your contribution to growing our instrument library!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Cory
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 9 other donors.Pianists need Practice!
Funded Aug 26, 2020Your donation officially establishes the instrument check out inventory for our school! With your impact, Classen is now able to loan the equipment needed for piano study to students who may not have the resources to get the equipment on their own. While some students need the whole set up, others are simply missing one piece. One of our fourth year students had her pedal malfunction at the end of summer. Her mother just lost her job due to CoViD, and getting a pedal is simply not on the priority list. With your help, I was able to loan her a quality pedal for the year. She says it works great, and was so relieved to have this problem solved!
Next enrollment session, I will be able to give the good news to students who do not have the ability to have a piano that we can sponsor up to two students with a full set up! They will learn first hand that they do not need to be wealthy to learn how to play - they just need to be willing to do the work and we can give them what they need.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Cory
This classroom project was brought to life by The Foundation for OKCPS & Kirkpatrick Foundation and 11 other donors.Play It by Ear
Funded Sep 14, 2019My students have been so pleased to have working headphones for class. As opposed to previous years, I have been able to have back ups of headphones (which we have already used to replace aging or damaged equipment). While adjustments can be made when we run out of headphones, it is so much better for the students to have all of the resources they need for class available to them.
The most exciting thing for students about these headphones is to be able to use good equipment, when so much of their school experience is using sub-par materials. Typical headphone cords are too short for piano playing - imagine playing from one end of the keys to the next, and having a cord tether you back to one area of the piano! The headphones you provided are made for our keyboards, not only giving students proper sound quality to hear every aspect of their playing, but also enough cord length to move their arms across the piano.
One wonderful surprise I have encountered is that students have been more cautious with this equipment. Truth be told, adolescents are clumsy and damage a lot of equipment due to their growing limbs - they walk away from their keyboard without taking off their headphones or tangle themselves up in the cord. Since getting these new headphones, and knowing they were so graciously donated, my students have been careful to make sure their assigned headphones are properly hung up before walking away from their stations, and put away completely at the end of class. I did not expect this reaction, but I am so grateful for it!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Cory
This classroom project was brought to life by The Foundation for OKCPS & Kirkpatrick Foundation and 2 other donors.Preparing to Perform
Funded Sep 18, 2019The setting for our winter recitals was beautiful thanks to you! To ease students into performing, we always have our first recital in the classroom. We still dress up, bow, applaud, but having the first performance in our room makes it more relaxed for the students. Having the curtains to cover our dry erase board and the hardware to hang the curtains created a much nicer setting, especially for pictures!
The students were stunned when they first walked in and saw everything set up for our recitals. To see their keyboard lab transformed into a performance space was so satisfying for them. They already knew your impact from getting to use the erasable pens on their music. They loved picking the colors, and color coding all of their markings to make learning their music for the recital more fun!
As we move into the future, more erasable pens have already been requested - they never want to run out of these. All that is left for our classroom is to maintain the materials you have so graciously offered, and add to our music library to have more resources with up to date music.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Cory
This classroom project was brought to life by The Foundation for OKCPS & Kirkpatrick Foundation and one other donor.