Coalition of Five Music Ed Non-Profits Donate Special PPE to Nashville Middle/High School Bands for Safe Play & Practice

Give A Note’s Let’s Play Music Fund Gives $50,000 to Nashville Schools with Help from Save The Music, SongFarm, Gibson Gives, and Music Makes Us

NASHVILLE, TN, USA, December 15, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Give A Note Foundation (GAN), which provides support for K-12 public school music education programs nationwide, has joined forces with other leading music education non-profits to raise almost $50,000 to provide Nashville high school and middle school students with specialized PPE that ensures safe participation in making music. This combined effort – under Give A Note’s Let’s Play Music Fund – is now providing more than 8500 Instrument Masks and Bell Covers for brass and woodwinds, plus masks, to be distributed to Metro Nashville Public Schools.

Give A Note marshaled support from key funding partners Save The Music Foundation, SongFarm, Gibson Gives, Music Makes Us, Sony Music Group, and AllianceBernstein.

The donation to 45 schools in Nashville brings the number of donations nationally to 79 middle and high school music programs in 15 states, helping more than 6,900 students play music safely. The 12,200 PPE packages include no-touch Instrument Masks and custom-sized bell covers for wind instruments.

“Nashville is known as Music City so we all want to keep it going when band practice starts again as schools open,” says GAN CEO Beth Slusher. “These specialized instrument masks will make it possible for students to come together and play music safely.”

Following guidelines set by the International Coalition of Performing Arts Aerosol Study, Slusher worked with partners Southeastern Performance Apparel, National Educational Music Company (NEMC), and Practicing Musician to develop the unique instrument mask pattern and bell covers. Slusher says, “What's great about our mask is the hands-free flap that makes it possible for students to easily position the instrument into playing position.

“The concept for the superior design of The Instrument Mask comes from great collaboration,” she says. “The founder of Practicing Musician connected me to a music teacher in Connecticut who created the original concept for the design. Then, the technical design team at Southeastern collaborated with us to refine the mask design to meet the aerosol study’s standards, test functionality and comfort while simplifying the manufacturing process to control cost.”

Dr. Adrienne Battle, MNPS Director of Schools, says “As our middle school and high school band students start returning to the joys of practicing and performing together, this gift of PPE will go a long way toward helping them do it safely. Thank you to Give A Note Foundation, Music Makes Us, and all of their partners and donors in Nashville and across the country for this extremely generous donation to our schools.”

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GIVE A NOTE Foundation 501(c)(3) provides support to nurture, grow and strengthen music education opportunities – every student, every school, every community. Founded in 2011, GIVE A NOTE has awarded grants in excess of $1.4 Million in support of music education. GAN’s annual Music Education Innovator Awards (MEIA) recognize teachers who have developed creative, effective in-classroom programs and provides ongoing support to encourage lasting change within a school or district. Ninety-five percent of MEIA grants serve students from underfunded metropolitan and rural K-12 public school districts where funding for music education is deficient. Nationally recognized by music educators as an organization that passionately champions their life’s work, GIVE A NOTE delivers opportunities for students to become their best selves through learning and creating music.
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Save The Music Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that helps students, schools, and communities reach their full potential through the power of making music. www.savethemusic.org

SongFarm.org 501(c)(3) is a coalition of musicians, educators, and businesses who work collaboratively to enable music creation programs in secondary schools. www.songfarm.org.

Gibson Gives--a 501(c)(3) committed to introduce, inspire, and amplify the power of music through guitars--believes that now more than ever we must band together to support programs for music students. www.gibsongives.org

Music Makes Us^® is a collective impact model that brings together Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS), the Mayor’s Office and the Nashville music community to provide meaningful support for our music programs. www.musicmakesus.org

Carol Klenfner
Carol Klenfner PR
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