My Students

Imagine being able to form a rock band that gave you the ability to raise your voice about issues and ideas that are relevant to your life. Now imagine being able to do just that at 11, 12, or 13 years old in your own middle school while exploring the historical significance of rock personalities.

Creative and enthusiastic types abound in my current group of middle school students.

As a high-poverty school with an extensive range of cultures represented, we often need support in facilitating social expression in a safe and productive manner. Many of my students have the desire to participate in a music program in order to learn to express themselves through art, though as a school we lack the resources to support this. We have had powerful experiences exploring music as a club with students, though our instrument supply is dangerously scant, and student demand for a program is at an all time high. We have watched as our students built confidence through participating in our rock club. Students that felt otherwise unable to express themselves have found hope through looking at the historical significance and performance of rock music.

My Project

As students begin to participate in the rock club, their voices grow in all aspects of their lives. Students begin to better understand themselves as advocates for positive change in their community as they study the significance of musical artists and their messages. We are requesting some basic reinvestment to our dwindling supply of rock band equipment. My students need 2 guitar amplifiers, a guitar, a bass drum pedal, a drum throne, guitar effects pedals, guitar straps, and a power supply to get our rock band equipped! We aim for our students to grow as informed community members that enact their innate ability to speak up for themselves. Through participation in a rock band, students cultivate musical talent while engaging in a positive atmosphere that emphasizes teamwork, collaboration, and artistic expression. They will learn about the human experience over the course of history and the significant contributors to positive social change that also were musical artists. We really are looking to start something BIG here: the creation of a space where students will learn essential life skills.

Your contribution to our music program will improve the experience of our students as it facilitates their participation in both artistic expression and physical music performance.

Participation in a sufficiently equipped music program students will learn dedication to a craft as well as essential organizational skills. Students will be learning how to constructively work together to perform and create pieces of music that will bring them together in a way that no other art form can.