86
But
as he moved closer to the stage,
Hamand saw that the band members
were adults. He wondered whether
was the original band.
“As I get to the stage, I see it
they’re playing on iPads,” he said.
I was blown away. It turns out
they were professors from USF.
Right then and there, I knew I had
to share this with my students.”
So, when he got back to school,
Hamand put in a grant request
to the Community Foundation of Sarasota. He got the
grant, bought six iPads, a sound system and microphones.
“And here we are,” he smiled.
PARENTS JUST DON,T UNDERSTAND!
Danielle Downes, ullett’s PTO President, and the mother of
guitarist Kayla, remembers the day she heard her daughter had
been selected to be in the school’s iPad band.
“My husband and I actually laughed hysterically,” Downes said.
“We thought she was kidding.”
Downes said that to her, the idea of combining music and
technology was so new, different, and interesting. She said Kayla
was honored and excited that she was chosen.
“From day one, she has loved doing this,” Downes said. In fact,
as a result of playing with , Kayla asked for and
received a real guitar for Christmas, and has been teaching
herself how to play.
Other band parents echo Downes’ sentiments about the iPad
band.
“She really loves it,” said Shayne Casto of her daughter Payton,
the drummer. “She’s proud to be in it.”
According to ullett’s principal, Todd Richardson, the iPad
program provides an outlet for the school’s talented students to
shine. According to him, the school places an importance on
educating “the whole child,” and thus offers several arts, STEM
and physical education enrichment clubs that meet after school
to provide fun, meaningful experiences for students.
“This club works into that philosophy quite nicely,” Richardson
said of the iPad band. “And the kids love it! Mr. Hamand has
worked with many kids to better appreciate music and performing
in front of an audience.”
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