Past projects 4
Double the Reeds, Double the Trouble
Funded Feb 23, 2020Thank you for your generous donation of double reeds! Your gift had an immediate impact on our band program, and my students are so thankful! Double reeds are extremely expensive, and difficult for our low-income students to purchase. One reed is $12, and many of my students cannot afford that cost to play an instrument. Reeds have a short life span, which means playing the bassoon or oboe can become very expensive. Your generous gift means that our three double reed players do not have to purchase their own materials!
My students were so grateful when they saw that we received a box full of new double reeds. It was like everyone received a birthday present, including me! They all knew how worried I was that we would run out, and the students had been being extra careful with the reeds they were currently using. It was a wonderful relief for all of us to know that we would have enough reeds for the rest of the year, and that no one would have to purchase any on their own.
The package arrived just in time for me to send all of our double reed students home with enough reeds to last them, since coronavirus closed our school until September. We are all so grateful for the generous gift, and can't wait to return next year and begin playing as a group again. Thank you again for your incredible donation... your support of music education is greatly appreciated!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Mutze
This classroom project was brought to life by Stahl Family Fund and 4 other donors.Metronome Mastery: Keep The Beat Alive!
Funded Dec 24, 2019Thank you so much for your generous donation of a metronome for our band program! It quickly transformed our rehearsals, allowing me more freedom to move around my classroom and help students individually while the metronome clicked the beat. We were finally were able to use speakers to project the tempo so every student could hear, even when there were 50 players playing loud woodwind, brass and percussion instruments!
We immediately integrated the metronome into our daily rehearsals. We used them for every part of our class, from keeping a consistent beat during warm ups to making sure our tempo was consistent as a group when preparing for performances. My tech-savvy percussionist loved playing with all of the back beats in the metronome, and all students were happy to not to have to listen to me bang a drumstick on the stand anymore!
When we return after the coronavirus, we will resume using the metronome in class. It will be very useful for keeping tempo as a group, especially when we have to social distance and cannot be close to each other, and listening even harder to keep playing on time together. Thank you so much for your generous donation! Your support of music education means everything to the students and I.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Mutze
Bronx Beginners Need Band Basics!
Funded Dec 17, 2018Thank you so much for your incredibly generous donation to my band room! Our resources arrived this week, and I cannot tell you how excited the students and I were to open up our new materials. I told the students last week that we would be receiving some new equipment for our classroom, and every day since, my percussion section has been asking me when the bass drum stand would be coming. When it arrived, they carried the box down to the band room themselves, and used my keys to open the box. They were so thrilled to see the shiny new stand! We immediately assembled it and put the bass drum on its new home. We tested out the drum, and my percussionists were finally able to play with proper technique, dampening the drum head with their hands and using a mallet to hit the drum in the correct spot. We are finally a proper percussion section!
The neck straps purchased were immediately put into our saxophone cases! The padded straps are so comfortable and soft. It was so nice to let my saxophonists open up a brand new neck strap, one that adjusts length easily and allows for good posture and better technique. Your generous donation supplied our oboes and bassoons with enough reeds to last the next couple of months! This has completely released the financial burden of buying expensive double reeds, and is allowing us to focus on improving tone and clarity. Our glockenspiel now has new, harder mallets with better resonance, our bass clarinets can use bass clarinet reeds (instead of tenor saxophone reeds subbing for the real thing), and our percussion section has a new set of beautiful, tinkling sleigh bells!
We have 25 school days until our Black History Month Concert, and the new resources arrived just in time! We are starting our unit on jazz, and preparing Mr. P.C by John Coltrane and Bad by Michael Jackson for our upcoming concert. Because of your generous donation, several significant improvements to our program are helping us become the best musicians we can be. I cannot thank you enough for your support of our music program, and I can ensure you that the materials purchased will be used daily by generations of band students to come!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Mutze
Build Our Bronx Band Library! We Can't Stand It Anymore...
Funded Jan 1, 2019I cannot thank you enough for your generous contribution to our classroom! The purchased method books made an immediate impact on our instruction from the first day they arrived. We were so excited to take them out of the box, and for every student to have their own personalized curriculum for their instrument. My students flipped through and saw all of the new music they could learn. They quickly noticed that the books are personalized for each instrument, with fingering charts and technique tips integrated throughout. We were so excited to get started!
Last week our schedules changed, meaning an increase in beginner band students in my classroom. As soon as the books arrived, they were in the hands of brand new musicians, guiding them through note reading and fingerings. Because we did not have the books last semester, they have also been an excellent review source for my continuing band students. My experienced musicians were able to help my new students, while also looking at music that was brand new to them, engaging their interest. Your gift has truly transformed my classroom and my instruction!
Our new Manhasset music stands also arrived last week! The students were so grateful and immediately commented on how the new stands won't fall down like the old ones. Some of the students even asked if they could come during their lunch period to help assemble them! They are so much stronger than our old ones, which were over 15 years old and irreparable because of overuse. We cannot wait to put them together this week and integrate them into our classroom!
We cannot thank you enough for your donation to our classroom. The method books and music stands purchased have made such an immediate impact on our instruction, and will be used by generations of band students to come!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Mutze