NEW YORK, NY (Harmonic Vision) -"The Tony Danza Show" yesterday surprised
Hector S. Valentin, the devoted music teacher at
Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary in Wyandanch, New York with 80 new instruments,
Music Ace Maestro music education software and a room makeover by the TLC "While You Were Out" television show. Today marks the first of Tony's nationwide school makeover projects this season in which he will give back to a school or teacher in need.
The school's music program consisted of 400 kids in third through sixth grades who shared a total of three instruments, plus a few trial lessons from the Music Ace curriculum. As part of the makeover, Harmonic Vision donated the complete set of forty-eight lessons and games in its new Music Ace Maestro, plus a license to install the software on each of the 15 music-room computers that Mr. Valentin built from parts he salvaged from old computers.
To create a full band ensemble for the school, Mr. Danza arranged for Casio Keyboards to donate 30 keyboards and a digital piano for a new keyboard lab, and Conn-Selmer to donate about 50 instruments including flutes, clarinets, trumpets, saxophones, trombones, coronets and a full drum kit. Home Depot provided the building supplies for "While You Were Out" to re-do the room. VH1 started the ball rolling to enhance the school's music program when it donated about 20 instruments in March 2005.
"From the trial lessons, I know the kids dig Music Ace and they really get the music theory it teaches," said Mr. Valentin. "With the full set of lessons, the kids will have more fun learning music, and I'll be more efficient teaching it. The software tracks the progress of each student so I can pinpoint strengths and weaknesses, and change lesson content accordingly for each child. Once they master the basics, they get to start on the instruments. We are very grateful to "The Tony Danza Show" for making all this possible."
Phil Rockenbach, president of Harmonic Vision said, "We applaud Tony's emphasis on education, and are particularly excited he led off with a music program since music sometimes gets overlooked in favor of core subjects. It is our pleasure to help Tony make a difference in these kids' lives."
For a video clip and photos from the show, visit https://www.harmonicvision.com.
