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Instrument Repair Workshop at ISK

By Gwendolyn Anding
07-Mar-18
Instrument Repair Workshop at ISK


When it comes to Professional Development, most people think about educational strategies, technology, or curriculum. But for Music Educators, the real nuts and bolts of teaching often boil down to the musical instrument. Rehearsals can grind to halt if a clarinetist loses a keypad, a flute spring pops loose, a student trips and falls on top of his saxophone (true story), or a horn piston locks up. In addition, instrumental repairs eat up a music budget. If we could just do basic repairs ourselves rather than waiting for the repair guy to save the day, that would be really helpful. November 10-11, 2017: Enter Dan Parker of the Colorado Institute of Music Instrument Technology. When he came to the International School of Kenya to lead Professional Development, he met a group of classroom and private teachers from all over Africa with suitcases of crooked metal, cracked fingerboards, and loose screws. Mr. Parker didn't just demonstrate how to repair; teachers had to roll up their sleeves, dig through their workshop swag bags, and use the tools found there. Workshop participants had the opportunity to fire up a welder, solder lead pipes to braces, put a flute back together, and dissemble a clarinet. Educators learned how to clean a brass instrument without sending it in for an expensive check-up. Mr. Parker even smacked some dents into an old trumpet just to challenge participants to smooth out that brass. Instrument Repair Workshop participants came away with new skills that were used right away on Monday morning when somebody slammed the classroom door on a trombone bell. Many thanks to Dan Parker for bringing these skills to international and local teachers, to Curriculum Director Jodi Lake for understanding the importance of this genre of Professional Development, and to AISA for supporting us! Gwendolyn Anding is an IB Music Teacher at the International School of Kenya.




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Comments

03/09/2018 - Walter
Great work indeed as a music instruments technician in Zimbabwe wish one day will team up with Daniel and visit a lot of international schools in Africa and world at large.

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