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Windsor Knights of the Rock Table

Windsor High School, NY

1191 New York 79, Windsor, NY, USA

Windsor Central School District

Director: Joel Carle

Category: High School Retention Program
Award: Gold, 2019

Project Description

The Windsor High School Music Program works to ensure that every student can find a course or ensemble pertaining to their musical interests. In addition to Band and Chorus, Windsor offers exciting opportunities for non-traditional musicians. This was the motivation behind the Knights of the Rock Table (KORT). KORT is a music program that is created based of the students musical interests. The popularity of the KORT program has led to the creation of a variety of new courses. These options include beginner courses in Piano, Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Drum Set. students in this program often enroll in higher level course options such as Modern Band, Band, Chorus, or even college level Music Theory. By offering a “music education for everyone,” we have found that not only have our ensemble drastically went up, but the amount of students enrolled in music courses has skyrocketed! According to recent data, over 80% of incoming freshmen choose to fulfill their mandatory Fine Arts credit with a music course as opposed to Visual Arts or Engineering. Our KORT program has been featured in School Band & Orchestra Magazine and we are recipients of the NAMM Foundation Best Schools For Music Education recognition. Our administration has been extremely supportive in making our ideas into a reality our momentum continues. In Fall of 2019, we will be completing construction of a full, professional recording studio within the school building.

Target Audience

The students are our primary focus at all times. It is extremely important to us to keep innovating our program to cater to all students’ interest. If a student walks into the Windsor Music Suite with a passion for a style that we do not offer a course for, we immediately begin brainstorming ways to adjust our program around that student. That can lead to one on one lessons, new ensembles, changes in current ensembles, or new courses.

Overall budget

$250000

Specific Budget Breakdown

An estimated $100,000 has been spent on sound equipment, instruments, and technology to fund this program. Due to the volume of materials, it would be difficult to produce a specific list of expenditures.

We have budgeted $150,000 for the creation of our Recording Studio that will begin construction in Spring 2019.

How did you update/change this project from its previous occurrence?

Our program revolves around student interest. If there is an increase in student interest in one particular topic, we create new opportunities based on said topic. If student interest begins to wane on a certain topic, we adjust the way we teach the topic or shift our offerings to cater to something that connects more to the students.

Measurement of the success/effectiveness of this project?

The most direct measure of success for this project is student enrollment. In this years KORT Show, their were 8-10 ensembles that were made entirely of Windsor students and staff. On top of that roughly 80% of students sign up to fulfill their Fine Arts credit with a music course. Specifically, this year we are offering 4 sections of Bass Guitar, Drum Set, Guitar, and Piano Class. All of those sections are full! This is on top of a large chorus , band , Modern Band , and college level Music Theory. As is stands now, our program in at capacity.

Advice for someone looking to replicate this project in their own community?

Listen to your students and be okay with learning something new.

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