Windsor Forest Elementary Teacher Receives Classroom Gifts from Music Will

Windsor Forest Elementary School Teacher Shalisha Turpin received a big surprise near the end of the school year. Not only was she to be a Featured Teacher for the Music Will organization for International Drum Month in May – but Music Will gifted the school’s music program five Zip-Kits to support her students. The Zip-Kit is a classroom drum set designed to make rhythm and ensemble playing accessible for young musicians, and Music Will recently began making it available to educators nationwide.

Ms. Turpin is originally from Jamaica and was the first woman to graduate from Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts with a degree in drumming. Most kids have to wait to play the drum set if there even is one in their classroom. Now, five of Ms. Turpin’s students can play at the same time.

You can see the day Ms. Turpin was surprised in her classroom with the gift in this video:

https://youtube.com/shorts/ydpSN3VrMdI?si=m_VJpMYCa8hTAfI5

Clayton McIntyre, Manager of Content Production at Music Will, says he was completely inspired by her story and the energy she brings to her students.  In addition, he said Music Will enjoyed highlighting the wonderful work happening in the Windsor Forest Elementary School music program.

Music Will is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the United States that trains public school teachers, donates instruments, and provides curriculums to bring modern, inclusive music education to K-12 classrooms. Formerly known as Little Kids Rock, it is the largest nonprofit music program in the U.S. public school system.

  Modern Band Focus: Unlike traditional school bands, Music Will focuses on genres that kids know and love—such as rock, pop, Latin, rap, R&B, country, and blues.

  Teacher Empowerment: The organization trains teachers and provides resources so they can confidently run these dynamic music programs, often teaching music similarly to a second language with an emphasis on composition and improvisation.

  Instrument Donations: They supply public schools with free musical instruments (guitars, basses, drums, keyboards, etc.).

  Broad Reach: Since its founding in 2002, the program has reached over 1.8 million students across all 50 U.S. states.