The North Wing Recorder Project is designed to give every North Wing student an opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument successfully. The project began in 1997 with federal funding from Title VI and the Colson Foundation. We were provided with money for recorders and instruction for most of that school year. The nature of Title VI funding is to begin meaningful projects but to not continue funding them - hoping that the projects will grow from community support. As this support has grown and our project is no longer considered a pilot project as it is now an integral part of our program.

We believe that learning to play a musical instrument helps children in many ways. Recent research informs us that musical experience during early childhood supports academic areas across the board and throughout a lifetime. Through this project we have noticed that some children have shown more success in music than anyone would have ever expected. This gives the child an added outlet for creativity, which in turn helps with self esteem and gives proof that he or she can succeed at difficult tasks.

Through Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities we learn that we are providing an "art form to communicate, showing ability to define and solve artistic problems with insight, reason, and technical proficiency" and "use the elements of ...instrumental music, including rhythm, pitch, timbre, and articulation."