I must have the best job in the world because every week I get to show 550 amazing kindergarten through fourth graders the joy found in making music. These kids aren't afraid of trying new things or taking risks; they come to my classroom every week ready to sing, say, play, move to, and create all kinds of beautiful music. They are smart, thoughtful, creative, energetic, and talented, and they are developing a love for music that I hope will follow them the rest of their lives.
In short, my students ROCK!
My Project
I am hoping to raise enough money to purchase 8 new Studio 49 Orff xylophones for my music students.
These high quality instruments are built to last, and they would replace our much older instruments that were poorly built and have unfortunately gone out of tune.
During the 2017-2018 school year I wrote a ZEF grant that replaced 17 of our instruments, and the funding of this Donors Choose project would complete our classroom set. Currently our 17 new instruments clash with our 8 old instruments because they are a half step out of tune from each other. This means that, when playing the note C for example, the 17 new instruments sound a C and the 8 old instruments sound a C# (C sharp). The interval between a C and a C# is called a "semitone," and it is the most dissonant of all the intervals in Western music, which to non-musicians means "it sounds really really bad." The difference is certainly noticeable, and everything we do as a group would sound way better if all of our instruments were in tune.
It's worth noting that unlike woodwind, brass or string instruments, wooden xylophones are not built to be tuned. In fact, the only way to tune a xylophone is to sand each individual note with sand paper. This is a tedious process because there are 128 notes between those 8 old xylophones, and tuning each note perfectly would take weeks if not months to complete. I have already attempted this task and given up- there just isn't enough time, nor is there a guarantee that tuning them in this way would be fully accurate or stay accurate over time.
My students love making beautiful music, and your help funding this project would make a big difference!
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Doublestein and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
