The greatest current need of the GMS Band Program is to purchase Wenger student chairs and chair racks. The chairs that are currently in the band room are old, falling apart, and not designed to support proper playing posture for a musician. The cost of 100 Wenger student chairs is $6,200. The cost for six chair racks to store and transport the chairs is $1,955 at $391 per rack. You can view these items and their cost on Wenger's website:
https://www.wengercorp.com/chairs/student-chair.php The Grassland Band also maintains a large inventory of concert and marching percussion instruments, bassoons, bass clarinets, tubas, sousaphones, euphoniums, and other instruments that are too expensive to expect middle school band families to purchase or rent. One bassoon alone costs approximately $3,000-7,000. These instruments are also very expensive to maintain. Last year alone, the bill to repair and maintain our inventory of school instruments exceeded $4,000. Once we have raised the funds to purchase the these items, additional funds raised will be used to purchase sheet music, pay for transportation and participation fees for events such as Concert Performance Assessment and Young People's Concerts at the Nashville Symphony, and pay for highly qualified sectional and lesson teachers to work with our band students. The GMS Band Program does not receive an operational budget from Williamson County Schools or from the State of Tennessee, so when we need to purchase goods and services that are essential for a thriving band program, they come from band fees and fundraising. Thank you for considering a donation to help us make the Grassland Band better for all of our students!