Chiming In: A Look at this Year’s Chime Loan Recipients

Area 4’s Chime Loan program continues to put instruments in the hands of young children througout our region. Here’s a look at the teachers who are taking advantage of this valuable resource for the 2024-2025 school year.

South Carolina: Jared Roper from Liberty Elementary School in Liberty, SC

Jared said in his application, “While I’ve been a music teacher for 3 years at Liberty Elementary, my wife has been a part of LES for 24 years.  In all that time I have not seen Liberty students use tone chimes.  This will be a wonderful opportunity for our students not only to uniquely experience and beautifully create music, but to learn music literacy in the process. Liberty Elementary is a Title 1 school and most of the students will not have had this opportunity before.  This goes far beyond the Orff instruments in our school.”

South Carolina: Dena Wade from Cotton Wood Elementary School in York, SC

Dena plans to use the chimes in 2nd – 4th grades in general music. She says, “It will benefit our school by providing our students with limited financial means a meaningful experience in applying music notation reading skills in playing chordal harmony accompaniments. This is an experience and an instrument they will not otherwise be exposed to.

Florida: Kelley Cunningham from Ridgeview Global Studies Academy in Davenport, FL  

Kelley plans to use the chimes in 2nd grade – 5th grade for 40 minutes 5 times a week. She says, “This chimes loan program will allow me to present students with an instrument many have never seen before. Students will learn to read, write, perform and enjoy music individually and as a group while singing and performing songs with the chimes.

Florida: Rebekah Gritton from First Baptist Church Homeschool Music Co-Op in North Port, FL

Rebekah will use the chimes weekly to teach music reading skills.

Congratulations to these very deserving recipients!

We look forward to seeing what happens in these classrooms over the next school year. If you know of an educational program that could benefit from Area 4’s Chime Loan Program, please pass this   information along!

For more information on the Area 4 Chime Loan program, contact Marcia Brantley, [email protected]