Four music teachers in two years... no stability, no consistency. It's difficult to find a good music teacher and when you do, it's necessary to supply them with instruments to empower students. I'm currently finishing up my second year teaching at Freedom Academy and have greatly enjoyed the journey thus far.

I have a cart. It is very blue. On the top of my cart sits a keyboard. A shelf below contains various boomwhackers. And another shelf holds my speaker and several small percussion instruments. I teach an entire unit about the instruments of the orchestra and yet, most of my students will never get to actually hold the instruments they have learned so much about.

The students would be overwhelmed to start a small strings group at school. Many of them have expressed their desire to play "real" instruments some day.

Any donations would be appreciated beyond words... please help me in making some dreams come true. Read more »

Four music teachers in two years... no stability, no consistency. It's difficulut to find a good music teacher and when you do, it's necessary to supply them with instruments to empower students. I'm currently finishing up my second year teaching at Freedom Academy and have greatly enjoyed the journey thus far.

I have a cart. It is very blue. On the top of my cart sits a keyboard. A shelf below contains various boomwhackers. And another shelf holds my speaker and several small percussion instruments. I teach an entire unit about the instruments of the orchestra and yet, most of my students will never get to actually hold the instruments they have learned so much about.

The students would be overwhelmed to start a small strings group at school. Many of them have expressed their desire to play "real" instruments some day. I have several bells that I'm going to start using to reinforce the concept of music theory with kindergarten, first, and second grade students, but I simply do not have enough to keep the whole class engaged.

Any donations would be appreciated beyond words... please help me in making some dreams come true. Read more »

My students are great! They always come to my class excited to learn no matter what is going on elsewhere. This class makes it possible for the students to disappear into another world for 50 minutes. There are no worries if they are going to eat that night or how they are getting some place. Right now, I am having to turn students away from this opportunity because of the condition of some of the instruments. My students are literally playing on instruments that are 20 years old so it is quite common for me to hear that a piece fell off somewhere. Some students are having to play on instruments that are broken because I don't have the funds to replace all of them. Regardless, my students come to class and make the most of it. I enjoy the smiles on their faces when they finally master a section of the music that they had been struggling on.Read more »

Our program is thriving at Sunset Vista Elementary school! With our growth this year, our instrument pool is running short, even thought we've borrowed inventories of 2 more schools besides our self! We need some lower playing instruments to help beef up our beginning and returning bands this and next year! With rental costs so high for these instruments, we try to supply the students that want to play them an instrument so they have the opportunity to be and play in band for years to come!Read more »

The Tucson High Orchestra program is the largest high-school program in the Tucson area. We have 140 students in three orchestras. Our numbers have grown rapidly in the past five years, and continue to grow. We have more than doubled our orchestra enrollment, but our instrument inventory has not grown with us.

Our orchestra students are unable to take instruments home for practice because we don't have enough to go around. Each instrument donated will go into the hands of a deserving and promising student so that they may practice at home on a quality instrument. With your donation a student will have the opportunity to progress their musicianship and experience all of the benefits that go along. Read more »

The instrumental music students at Lake Havasu High School would greatly appreciate help with beefing up our instrument inventory. Lake Havasu City is located about 3 hours west of Phoenix and about 2 ½ hours south of Las Vegas so we do not have any music stores nearby. Most of the students at our school participate in the free or reduced lunch program.
First of all, our band room is not designed, acoustically or dimensionally, to be a band room. Several years ago, for unknown reasons to me, the former, beautiful, tiered, large band room was paved over to make a storage room for community as well as high school theater sets. This should demonstrate the school district’s past discouragement for the music program.
Secondly, most of the instruments that my students are using are from a few decades ago and many of the cases are coming apart. When cases deteriorate, obviously, the instruments dry-up and require extensive repair and eventually are in bad shape overall. We currently need two piccolos (we have one, but it doesn't work because it is warped and curved!), two 4-valve euphoniums, two sousaphone cases, three trumpets. We also need 3 full-sized cellos, and two full-sized violas. Our euphoniums are from the 1970s before our current school district existed (instruments are labeled Mohave county school district.) Our sousaphone cases are literally held together by bungee cords, and the chip board has been broken through to reveal the insulation in the cases.
Last week a custodian informed me that there were several string instruments stored in a small room located above the auditorium where the air filters and air conditioning unit is located. I went up there with him to find a plethora of ¾ sized violas and ¾ sized cellos of which we had zero previously. The string instruments we do have were made in 1960, and they actually sound great! The problem is that they are mostly ¾ size which is difficult for most high school students to play.
The bass drum carriers for our marching band are in such terrible shape that they actually cause bruises and physical injuries to the students. We ordered 4 new ones this year, but those new ones do not fit anyone with a large body frame. Two of our larger drummers needed to once again use the old style of carrier which was painful for them to use.
Sadly, I have had to turn away some students from our orchestra program because I did not have a school instrument for them to play, and their families were not able to afford the rent from the distributor we use. Fortunately, we do have some support with community members, clubs, and businesses to help us, but the cost of new instruments are so high that the money we do get is used quickly. The former band director used money to travel and compete with the students, but he did not invest any money towards instruments, instrument repair, nor music stands (which are also falling apart.) Using the money we (students, families, and I) have raised on purchasing more instruments that are gently used rather than a smaller number of instruments that are new would be a wise investment for us because we need so many. The students have been eager and determined to help with fundraising to improve our program even though some will be graduating soon. They are excited about leaving a positive legacy behind and supporting the program that helped them so much.
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Students from Foothills Elementary will be coming to Whispering Wind Academy due to the closure of the Foothills Elementary campus. In anticipation of this, I am looking to stock up on instruments we do not have so that we can provide for these incoming students who may not be able to afford to rent instruments.
We only have 1 violin, and it is a full size, so this doesn't help those smaller beginner students who would like to play violin but cannot rent. This is what I would like to work on getting for Whispering Wind at this time. If you are able to help us get a smaller violin we would greatly appreciate it! Read more »

Scottsdale Country Day School provides a broad and balanced curriculum in small class sizes. SCDS provides a friendly and caring school environment in which pupils thrive and are valued for their individual contribution to the school community. Students are given every assistance and encouragement to reach their potential, discover talents through participation and contribution, and take responsibility for their progress. Read more »

I have a string program with very awkward instrumentation. I have only had one cello and now I have three cello players that have to share in the same class which is not ideal. My string orchestra's sound would change dramatically with the addition of 2 cello's. Please help we are a title 1 school in a small town with a very limited budget and very far away from any music stores.Read more »

S.O.U.N.D.S. (Students Opening Up New Doors with Strings) is a non- profit program that provides high quality string instrument training for children from an early age on instruments such as the violin, viola, cello, and bass. Our mission is to teach, mentor, and provide musical experiences and opportunities to students in order to enable them to pursue their aspirations in the field of music. The vision of S.O.U.N.D.S. is to provide music education opportunities to a wide variety of children and to remove any barriers that children may have so that they are able to pursue their musical aspirations. We aim to provide our services throughout the country as to diversify the world of music, particularly in classical music.

We target students in rural and inner city areas who wish to play but cannot due to their schools not having programs or their families not being able to afford lessons. While in the program students take lessons on a string instrument of their choice, participate in group and theory classes, and play with local youth orchestras. More advanced students learn about the various careers in the field of music through interviews and discussion with professionals in the field of music, interact with professional orchestras and attend their concerts. At the end of each year they perform in their own concerts and recitals. Throughout the year, the children provide community service and musical outreach throughout music by performing in day care centers, hospitals, retirement homes, schools, etc.Read more »

I am teaching band/strings in three different schools. I am serving in a total about 2400 students. Numbers of my musicians are about 40-50 per each school. I have in each school only three or four band instruments to offer. The economy is not good. Parents are not renting or buying any instruments. I offer my own instruments so I have some band students at all. Parents who rent or buy for their students are rare. My bands are shrinking down to about six students per each school. I will welcome these four kinds of instruments: flutes, clarinets, trumpets, alto saxophone. The other instruments are too big to consider for the elementary level. Without an outer support there might be no band in near future. Any support to my program will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your consideration.

Dr. Ladislav Prcik
MM, JJ, AC
Band/Strings
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