Past projects 3
More Cowbell! (And Tambourines...)
Funded Mar 27, 2018We have already started using these materials! First off, for our big percussion concert, we got to have several kids playing congas in several parts of the concert, and weren't stuck with just using the old sets that have been sitting around the band room for years. These new drums helped to give some of the younger kids a boost, knowing that they were playing on the same quality of drums that I would expect to play in a professional setting!
When they first saw the materials, they were excited! "New Drums!!!" was heard often in the band room. They had learned a bit about Afro-Cuban percussion techniques, so they were excited to put the cowbells and congas to good use. The sleeper in the group were the crotale cases and mounting bars, until the kids realized that their instruments were now going to be in much better shape, and be able to stay in better shape! It turns out that just wrapping the crotales in a packing blanket doesn't do much! They love using the new tambourines, and just love having quality gear to play on.
Looking forward, we will be able to do much more work with Afro-Cuban songs and styles, and will be able to have authentic instruments in the hands of all the kids in the program, instead of having to just "make do" with the instruments that we have. It's going to be great moving forward with some great material!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Handel
This classroom project was brought to life by Ripple and 3 other donors.Concert Percussion for Everybody!
Funded Mar 27, 2018The instruments have a already proved to be of great significance to my kids! There are more instruments to go around the large studio of kids, and there is better quality. FOr example, this year we had all 3 of our student ensembles go to our state concert festival. In preparations, we never had to give the lower groups equipment of less quality, as we doubled our numbers of quality triangles and snare drums!
When the kids first saw the boxes come in, they were over the moon! The kids wanted to start playing on the instruments the second the boxes were opened! The Boom-whackers were met with excitement, and the kids have been playing Happy Birthday for each other with them every time a new birthday rolls along. It is great! Past that, they have been excited to replace home-made ace hardware triangle beaters with professional quality beaters, and they are really excited to get some turns on the snare drum!
The next steps are to continue some more work with the kids on good snare drum technique, although if it was up to them, we would do nothing but learn boom whacker tunes for the rest of the year. We might do a little bit of that, to be honest! Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Handel
This classroom project was brought to life by Ripple and one other donor.We Can't Bring Kids to Brazil, We Bring Brazil to the Kids!
Funded May 7, 2015I would like to personally thank you all for the generous donation you have made to our students! The extra percussion instruments and technology items have made a number of projects possible for us.
The Brazilian drums have given me a chance to include many more students in our Brazilian Samba Batteria group. In the past, we have used every drum we could find, pulling toms off of drumsets, filling soda cans with pebbles, and anything else we could think of. The drums will give twice as many kids a great hands-on experience with music from another culture, and that is priceless. We will be using these drums as part of our Spring Concert, and use our Brazilian ensemble in full-school pep rallies in the non-marching band season.
The technology gave us the chance to have top notch microphones available for our percussion instruments in marching band, live sound in the pit for musicals, and will be used for years to come in recording and sound support.
The metronome has already been used more than anything else. That traveled with me to every rehearsal, football game, and to our 10th 5A Marching Band State Title.
The next steps we have will be continuing to build our program up, and getting the instruments secured to provide every student with a great musical experience, hopefully unlike any other program in the state!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Handel