Stanford Play-a-Thon 2022

It's time for our Ninth Annual Stanford Music Play-A-Thon! Each year we raise money through your donations to support our Instrumental Music Program at Stanford Middle School in Long Beach. With your help, we can raise money to pay for instrumental coaches, sheet music, new instruments, instrument repair, supplies, and so many other things needed for our program!

After one year of being in person, the students are showing a remarkable amount of development. Learning music through a screen just didn't work well! All last year the students witnessed how much musical growth was possible by performing concerts together. It was a successful year all around! This year, we are continuing to develop our overall musicianship to grow the music program at Stanford.

Some of our needs:

-Coaching costs around $50/hour. Bringing in professional musicians who specialize on specific instruments helps our students get individual assistance from top-notch performers. I try to bring in coaches for each instrument - that way all students benefit from this excellent instruction. Since our classes have over 40 students, these coaches provide professional levels of help and more personalized instruction.

-Every piece of sheet music costs $50. Each group plays 3 pieces per concert - with 7 total groups, that means each concert costs over $1,000!

-New instruments can range in price from $300-$4000. Currently, we are in need of new percussion equipment, violins, saxophones, and violas.

-Instrumental supplies are needed for our students. Things like mallets, drum sticks, reeds, cork grease, new strings, rosin, and valve oil help keep our instruments working well and help our students who cannot get these supplies themselves.

On November 5th, we will have the Play-A-Thon event. All are welcome - it will start at 9am and go until 12pm. At the Play-A-Thon, you will see band and orchestra students sightread a new piece and rehearse it right in front of you. After 40 minutes, these students will perform the piece - you will be amazed at their progress! In addition to these two sessions, you will also see the more advanced students mentoring the beginning level students. At the end of that session, all the students will play a song together!

Please consider donating to our program. The students and I will be so grateful for your donations! Thank you so much for your support of Stanford Middle School Music!