Imagine wanting to be in band, but knowing your parents can't afford to get you an instrument. When I do band recruitment, the 1st questions from many students are, "Is band free?" "Does it cost anything to get an instrument?" "I want to be in band, but my family cannot afford to rent or buy an instrument" My students attend a Title 1 public school where most kids qualify for free breakfast and free lunch. Our band program has started to grow thanks to the efforts of generous people who see how important music education is to these children's whole person education. But we are still lacking instruments to fill in the gaps of those who cannot get their own. Making music together is for many of my students the highlight of their school day.

Playing an instrument gives them an opportunity to develop socially, cooperatively and musically. It teaches them how to be responsible young adults. Band students consistently become better readers, better at math and solve problems more quickly than non musicians. Please donate an instrument or money TODAY to help my students grow into well rounded, educated and critical thinkers. THANK YOU!!Read more »

The Kofa High School band program has given students the opportunity to excel in an supportive and safe environment. Because of this, more students want to join the program and be a part! We, however, do not have the instruments to support these students and do not have the money to purchase the instruments. Each one of the above instruments will be played and cared for by multiple students here at Kofa High School, and will help change their lives.

Our motto is: "Create the Tradition...Strive for Excellence". With your donation, you can help Create the Tradition so that our students can continue to Strive for Excellence.Read more »

Hello my name is Aldie Lopez and I am the Band Director/Music Teacher at Ed & Verma Pastor Elementary School in Phoenix, AZ.

When I took over the band program 3 years ago we had a total of 28 students in the whole program from 5th - 8th grade. Today after much recruiting, success, and fun we now have over 130 students in our band program. Last year at our festival performance our Jr. High Band earned a Superior, which is a BIG turnaround from the III and IV in the previous years.

The most interesting part about our program at Pastor is the pride and love the band students have developed for themselves and their band. They pride themselves on being a part of the Pastor Band and carry themselves that way. The family atmosphere that they have created and the way each morning the music room is filled with 20+ students wanting to hang out in the "band room" is the reason I love teaching band.

The struggles we have faced, as with any growing program, are the typical growing pains. The largest and most difficult one, the lack of instruments. Each year of my time year we have faced this program due to the massive growth of our band. Its a great program to have, however a program that is in need of rectification. Read more »

My students attend a K-8 school in a very low income part of the city. 100% of the school's students receive free lunch and breakfast. The school is a uniform school and most of the students wear the same shirt every day of the week. The majority of my students are not able to afford their own instrument. Some of my students are not even able to purchase a $10 method book needed for the class. Because of this, the school has many instruments that I loan to students to use for the year free of charge.

The band program has been steadily growing every year. Since I started in 2009, the band has grown from 100 students to about 135 students today. Though this is a great thing, it has created many challenges. The band receives funding to repair instruments, for method books for every student and for supplies such as reeds, but we haven't had funding to purchase instruments since 2008. Due to this challenge, students have to share instruments with students in other classes, we have had to borrow instruments and mouthpieces from multiple schools in and outside of our district, or had to play poor performing instruments that could only play certain notes. I have new students knocking on my door daily wanting to join band but I have had to turn some away because we don't have the space or the instruments. You can help me change this by donating to our band today!Read more »

Richard E Miller is a small Title 1 elementary school in the Washington School District whose band and string instruments have seemed to vanished over the years, so we are in desperate need of instruments. Just to end with a quick example, I currently have only 2 "working" clarinets, and those are held together with electrical tape. I know there is a ton of interest at the school but I just do not have the equipment to put in their hands. Any little bit will help!!Read more »

Dr. Corso's Music Students: Desert Garden Montessori School is a unique educational setting. Our private school prides itself in educating the whole child, which is why we have maintained our private status as an organization, rather than risking curricular influence by outside institutions. However, we also highly value cultural, economic, and social diversity, so we offer a tuition-assistance program to many of our families, since we might not otherwise have economic diversity of families. In addition, our school did not have a music program established prior to my arrival four years ago, so we are still in the process of creating musical opportunities and gathering resources for our students. We have had amazing experiences so far, especially since all students participate in the music program from our infants all the way up through our high schoolers. Our music program includes: 1) music and creative movement classes for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, 2) instrumental and vocal general music for lower elementary grades, 3) children's chorus for lower elementary grades, 4) band and orchestral string survey classes for middle elementary grades, 5) concert choir for middle elementary, upper elementary, middle, and high school grades, and 6) cadet band, concert band, and cadet strings for upper elementary, middle, and high school grades. Next year, we will be adding a string orchestra to our program with our students who are more advanced. Our school believes in the power and critical importance of music education and want to provide the best experiences possible for our students. Our students are beginning to demonstrate the incredible aesthetic understandings and musical skills that they have acquired since our program's inception.

Our school supports music so much that it is a requirement and an opportunity that each student in every grade, beginning in first, study instrumental music. Each instrument request would provide a music scholarship for two students--one student would have use in class of the instrument during a rotation through all horns, and the other student would be using the instrument in class and at home for more intensive study. Please, empower us to bring music to our children and empower the children to bring music to their families and community!Read more »

This year saw a huge increase in the number of students enrolled in Band at Thompson Ranch Elementary School. However, because of this high interest combined with the high poverty of the area, I ran out of school-owned instruments very quickly. I even borrowed instruments from other schools, but still don't have enough to meet the demand. Please give the gift of music to a child who wants to live their dream of joining the Band!
Thank you very much!Read more »