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This Year's Project: Beginning piano lessons for Hunt A+ Arts Elementary School students
About Our Organization
The Music Academy @ First is an outreach mission of the First United Methodist Church. It's mission is to provide free quality musical training to financially disadvantaged children, by using the power of music and musical instruction to improve the lives of these at-risk youth. We are giving giving free beginning piano lessons and teaching handchime groups to students at Hunt A+ Elementary School. And we are also offering free 30 minute private instrumental and vocal lessons to students who qualify for free/reduced lunch and cannot afford to take private lessons. The Music Academy @ First admits students of any race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, national and ethnic origin.
Current Project: Beginning piano lessons for Hunt A+ Arts Elementary School students
The Music Academy @ First is offering free beginning piano lessons to 4th and 5th grade students at Hunt A+ Arts Elementary School on Mondays after school gets out at 2:30 pm. There is no cost for students or the school. We will be offering 3 sessions that last 7 weeks throughout the year. Each session would have 12 students, which affords 36 students each year the opportunity to take piano lessons. The cost for a student to take 7 weeks of piano lessons is $160 per student. That cost includes piano books, practice keyboards and headphones loaned to the student to practice at home, and maintanence and tuning of the pianos at the Music Academy.
At Hunt School about 92% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch based on USDA standards. The families of those students are unable to afford to pay for music lessons for their children. Jody Nieuwendorp, the elementary music teacher at Hunt says she always has students asking if she could give them lessons, but she is unable because she teaches in multiple buildings. The Music academy @ First will provide the opportunity for Hunt students to take piano lessons. All students participating would meet with an adult (provided by the program) to walk the students from Hunt across the street to First United Methodist Church for their lesson. The piano teachers would have passed backgroud checks and would be role models and mentors to the students .