Grade: Coppell High School Theatre Department (9th-12th)
Teacher Name: Karen Ruth
Purpose, Rationale, Strategy, and External Resources:
30 years old. 500 pounds. 600 feet. 8-10 times a week.
I’ll admit it - I’m a theatre director, and numbers have never really been my “thing.” In fact, I got a “C” in Algebra II when I was in high school. But even a right-brained creative spirit like me knows these numbers seem a little...off?
In the Coppell High School Theatre Department, we are blessed with unbelievably talented performers and technicians. We were recently the recipients of an auditorium remodel, with a beautiful new stage lighting system, sound board, and even new wireless microphones! But something is missing. Something that will tie all these aspects together to create a fully-realized production - and that something is live music. What's a show without music? Whether it’s transitioning between scenes or accompanying singers, live music brings energy, enthusiasm, and excitement to performers and performances. What we have not been blessed with in the Coppell High School Theatre Department is a piano that functions properly for the new millennium.
Meet “The Beast”: our 500-lb, 30+ year old piano on faulty casters that are secured to the instrument with white plastic zip ties. “The Beast” must be lugged, pushed, pulled and shoved from the Black Box to the theatre classroom to the auditorium stage and back - a distance of approximately 600 feet - at least 8 or 10 times a week for FAME class, warmups, and musical rehearsals. “The Beast” is so hefty, unwieldy, and awkward that it takes anywhere from 2-4 students to move her from location to location (and truly, she really only moves when you get her at a perfect 30 degree angle). I’ll also admit that any gouges out of the walls along the F-Hall corridor are likely a result of “The Beast” gone rogue.
As much of a fixture as “The Beast” is in our department, we feel that it’s time our program upgrades its accompaniment instrument to something that’s a bit more useful for the new decade - an electric keyboard that is lightweight, portable, technologically advanced, cheaper to maintain, and consistent in its musical quality. We would like to propose a CEF grant for a Yamaha MODX 88-key Weighted Action Synthesizer Keyboard. This item is available through a CISD-approved vendor, Romeo Music, along with a stand and sustain pedal, for a total cost of $2011.00 (quote already received).
Accompaniment by piano or keyboard is an essential component of our theatre department - it’s used for daily vocal warmups in most classes, musical direction and accompaniment in FAME Musical Theatre class, and after-school musical rehearsals. Normally, we’d use this same piano to accompany the musicals live, but “The Beast” is too heavy to move the 12 feet straight down into the orchestra pit without certain death, so we have to rent a keyboard instead.
The purchase of a keyboard to replace our clunky clavier will reap a myriad of educational and instructional benefits, many of which fall in line with the Coppell ISD Core Values (which are outlined below):
COLLECTIVE ENGAGEMENT
Having an instrument that’s consistently and readily available for classroom warm ups, vocal instruction, and rehearsals allows for faster participation of students in vocal work and more efficient use of rehearsal time. There’s no need to set aside 10 minutes to move the piano to or from the stage, and spend additional time trying to wrangle it into a workable position in its new space.
GREAT TEACHING
Time will be streamlined for optimal teaching, rehearsing, and warming up when the instrument is easily accessible and usable. When the equipment is consistently and reliably in tune, students can easily hear what note and pitch to begin at, and the educator can focus on the lesson as opposed to making frequent Band-Aid style adjustments to an out-of-date instrument just to try and make it viable.
AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIPS
In a world of cell phones, TikToks, and lightning fast internet, an electric keyboard is a much more relatable piece of equipment than an upright piano that’s at least twice as old as the median age of my students. Utilizing a modern and technologically advanced keyboard will additionally entice and inspire students to participate as accompanists during vocal warmups, rehearsals, and even for full shows, like our musical. It’s a more user-friendly and approachable instrument for Generation Z.
REDEFINING SUCCESS
Using a state-of-the-art, high-performance synthesizer keyboard in the theatre department will help usher the way we teach and interact with our students into this new decade. The Yamaha MODX 88-key synthesizer has the ability to record directly to a USB for easy transference of locally-created MP3s to Schoology for virtual learning and at-home rehearsals. It is also able to quickly personalize instruction for individual learners as it can quickly toggle between keys for the four main vocal parts with Seamless Sound Switching, as well as record and copy show orders and keys for effortless live performances.
Many additional perks exist to support the use of an electric synthesizer keyboard over “The Beast”:
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Cost effectiveness - We spend up to $300 a year tuning each upright piano in the district, while an electric keyboard rarely needs maintenance.
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Safety - Our upright piano likely weighs about 500 lbs, and has to move to multiple locations throughout the fine arts hall daily. It requires great effort to move due to its weight, shoddy casters, and age, and if it were to topple over onto a learner during one of the hefty shoves it takes to move it from room to room, the injury to the learner would be severe.
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Travel ability - The theatre department could actually take this keyboard on the road with them! It could accompany UIL One Act Play performers to their competition sites for vocal warmups. It could be part of a traveling show to bring a short, educational musical, like Schoolhouse Rock, to CISD elementary schools. It’s also lightweight and portable enough to easily move into our orchestra pit to be used for accompanying our own students in our annual musical, meaning we don’t have to rent a keyboard for the event anymore.
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Cross-curricular sharing - The portability of the keyboard, paired with all the technological capabilities it possesses, makes it a perfect item to be used in multiple classes and departments if the need arises. It could be brought to another campus for a professional development workshop, borrowed by the choir department to accompany singers on the outdoor stage at The Sound, or used by a guest speaker in AP US History to demonstrate how the melody of the song “To Anacreon in Heaven” became the basis of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The sharing possibilities are endless - and easy, since the Yamaha MODX only weighs 30 lbs and is readily moveable.
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Donation opportunity - Despite not being the best fit for our department anymore, “The Beast” still works and has value. With a single visit from a CISD maintenance van, she can be transported to another district elementary school where she’ll be a stationary piece to bring music and joy to children in Coppell, without being a hazard to students anymore. I like to think of it as her retirement.
The Coppell High School Theatre Department would be honored and humbled to receive a CEF grant to upgrade from our unwieldy upright to a slick synthesizer. If you haven’t already, please take the time to watch our featured video for your enlightenment, enjoyment, and a deeper understanding of our piano problems - a film clip of me, a 5’10” former diver and softball player, trying to move “The Beast” around the theatre department, accompanied by the sick ‘80s beat of Salt-N-Pepa’s “Push It” - pun definitely intended.
Evaluation Summary: If we can move our new keyboard without breaking a sweat, pulling a muscle, or endangering a child's life, then we have achieved our first goal! Getting more class time for vocal warm ups and proper musical accompaniment, and engaging students in playing the music for our classes and shows would be the next steps in our goal achievement process.
Estimated Completion Date: The keyboard will be purchased immediately upon receipt of funds. We cannot replace "The Beast" fast enough!
Items you plan to purchase with grant money: Yamaha MODX 88-key Weighted Action Synthesizer Keyboard with a stand and sustain pedal.
Amount needed: $2011, as quoted by CISD approved vendor, Romeo Music.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION!
