Past projects 11
Music Technology at Home
Funded Jul 27, 2020It has definitely been an interesting first semester being completely online. Many of my students this year are freshmen, trying to navigate through their first year of high school.
I developed a new curriculum of teaching general music that works for distance learning very well. It also maximizes interaction between me and my students, and for that I am very grateful. The resources purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers were extremely time saving, and also taught me some new tricks of how to integrate interactive slides and presentation into Google Classroom. My students appreciated it also, because the topics were of high interest to them and they got to learn Google Classroom much better.
One nice experience specifically happened when I was teaching about world music, with a focus on India. One student told me she was so surprised I was teaching about it because "no one usually cares about her country and don't teach about it in school here." I am glad I got to recognize my students' different backgrounds and make them feel proud of who they are.
Thank you again for your kindness and support of my classroom. We always appreciate it so much!!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Iding
This classroom project was brought to life by EagleTree Capital and 4 other donors.Practice, Practice, Practice... at HOME!
Funded May 8, 2019Thank you so much for helping us improve our performance skills both at home and during class time. We were able to use the new resources in many different ways, and especially for getting ready for our festival performance and spring concert at our school this past week. The drummers were able to practice two at a time for all the band numbers, having the more experienced player on the real set and a freshman drummer on the electronic one, mimicking what the other was doing. I was also able to allow them to practice on the pads during class instead of taking out the real set, and we were able to do this in the guitar classes as well. The student trumpeters absolutely loved the mutes and use them every day in class and at home on the weekends when they practice. The mutes have made class more enjoyable for everyone actually, because now the other sections are not getting blasted. Lastly we were able to use the instrument mic in our spring concert for all the soloists who learned pieces on their own at home and performed them for their friends and family this past week. It was a great help since our mic system is not very good at all. I was very happy all their hard work would be able to be heard throughout the auditorium.
When we first got all the supplies, the students were very excited and eager to try everything out. They especially loved the drum machine and the trumpet mutes. They frequently take them home to practice and developed a schedule of sharing them between the two band classes. The travel guitar was also a huge hit for everyone who always wants to take home a guitar to practice but are unable to because of logistics and the fact that our school does not allow students to take the guitars home. Students in guitar class who needed extra practice were able to do so and complete more class assignments because we had this guitar to share outside of class time.
We will continue to use the materials next semester to make practicing easier and especially to train the next set of drummers since some of ours are graduating next week. Thank you again for your continuous support of our program and we look forward to more musical adventures in the future!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Iding
Music Supplies for All That Jazz!
Funded Jan 25, 2018We just wanted to thank you so much for choosing to support our classroom music making! This semester, we are using the resources to help further our band's musicianship and practicing skills. At our parent teacher conference performance this semester, we were able to play our first jazz ensemble song, "Bag's Groove," with not only one, but TWO students soloing on saxophone! The administrators were pleasantly surprised with how our sound had changed, and how quickly the students picked up a completely different style of music. We also had an impromptu lunchroom performance one day when the kids got super excited about learning a new song and wanted to surprise their fellow classmates at lunch. We never did something like that before, and all the students really enjoyed it.
The students were very surprised when all the boxes came to the classroom. They were so happy that they were able to receive new reeds for their instruments, and new strings for the guitars especially. I have about 175 guitar students all sharing about 45 guitars each class. Strings break every day, and there is always someone playing a guitar that does not have all the strings. Because of this donation, I was able to put a lot more guitars back into commission so more students can learn the correct way to play chords and notes, without imagine a missing string was there. Our concert is coming at the end of May and now we can all feel assured as many students as possible will be able to participate.
The next steps for our class are to expand our studies in jazz improvisation, and to get better playing together as a small ensemble. This is a great skill for my students and will help them work on their hearing and creativity. The band is getting ready for the Memorial Day parade at the end of May, as well as performing for special senior functions, like senior awards night, National Honor Society induction, and graduation at the end of June. All the students in the music program are expected to perform in the spring concert at the end of May in some aspect. They are really looking forward to it and trying to put the finishing touches on their original creations.
We just wanted to thank you again for helping us out, especially for these students who do not have the money to buy their own supplies when they want to make music so badly.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Iding
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and one other donor.Help Our Marching Band Move Forward!
Funded Mar 9, 2017The students and I were very excited when we saw the project got funded before our first parade of the marching season. Now that we got all the flagpoles, we started assembling a color guard troop to come out with us when we are marching. Some of the girls came up with a routine and used it in the parades in Bay Ridge for St. Patrick's and Memorial Day. It brought a whole new dimension to the marching band and everyone agreed it made us look a lot better to compete with the other schools, and just for ourselves in general. The drummers were especially thrilled with their new drumsticks, because the others were very old and mismatched. They felt a lot more professional going out with new sticks and they sounded a lot better on their drums too. Next semester, I hope to keep the color guard girls with us for our two parades in October, and to build on that with some baton twirlers. Our band keeps growing, which is great, and more students are coming to me excited about joining or helping for the next parade.
Thank you all so much for all you have done for our classroom and the marching band! We don't have the same numbers of students as the other schools do, but we are for sure getting there with the way we look and represent our school.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Iding
All We Need Are Some Supplies For People Who Need The Beat!
Funded Oct 25, 2014I just wanted to thank you again for all your help for my students' classroom this semester. When I initially told them about the project, they were a little skeptical that we would be able to raise the money needed to purchase these items. Each day we would look and see how our progress was going and they were EXTREMELY excited when the boxes started coming to our school. It was also beautiful to see them all help to unpack everything and work together to assemble some of the equipment. They couldn't believe that people who didn't know them wanted to help so much that they would just donate their money and it really made them feel special.
This past semester, we used the resources to help us in our songwriting unit in guitar class. The students got into groups and composed their own songs over a two week period and we recorded each group's performance. We listened back to the files and were able to critique our performances and make them better. It was a great first experience in recording and the students were really into it. Besides using them every day in class, we also used the instruments in our winter concert which took place on Dec. 18th. The instruments will be utilized again this coming semester in all of my guitar and band classes and in my after school music program.
This project boosted my students' learning and my own teaching because we got new instruments we never played before, like the handbells, steelpan drum and set of quads. I had to learn the best way to teach them and the fastest way to incorporate them into our classroom and we were able to use everything very quickly after we received it! We were even able to use the quads at our school's Pep Rally for their 50th Anniversary. It was a great challenge for everyone and it made this semester extremely enjoyable and memorable.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Iding
This classroom project was brought to life by an anonymous donor and 18 other donors.