There is a new beat coming out of the Tekonsha HS/MS band room, and it is the sound of four "new to us" timapani drums! The four Ludwig timpani originally belonged to Grand Rapids Community College. Roy Wallace, a Media Tech Engineer/Instructor for Grand Rapids Community College and the owner of River City Studios in Grand Rapids, purchased the timpani and brought them into the studio for audio recording purposes. However, the instruments did not get much use, so they decided to try selling them. This is where our amazing community steps in!
Our band teacher, Mrs. Ashley Hall, reached out to the seller, told them a bit about Tekonsha, our school, and our growing band program, and asked if the instruments were still available. He said he had a buyer interested in one of the timpani, but he would rather sell all four to our school, as it would be so beneficial to us. Mrs. Hall had mentioned the opportunity to purchase these on Facebook, and within an hour, Mrs. O'Keefe was contacted by Joe and Jodi Waid of Waid's Pizzeria with a donation to cover the cost of the drums!
Mrs. Hall and her sister drove up to Grand Rapids on Saturday and brought home the timpani. While there, she learned from the seller that the proceeds from the sale of the timpani were being donated to a memorial scholarship in honor of a long time director of bands for Grand Rapids Community College that had passed away last month. The funds would support a scholarship awarded to GRCC music students in his honor.
One of the newly acquired timpani did have a cracked frame, and while it's still playable, the frame flexes every time the pedal is used, and the crack will worsen over time. Thankfully, our Tekonsha students enrolled in the CACC welding program, will be making the necessary repairs to bring this instrument back to its former glory!
Prior to acquiring the four new Ludwig timpani, Tekonsha only had two Slingerland timpani, and one of them had a broken foot pedal and could not be used to adjust the tension as intended. However, with an additional donation from Jeff and Tina Klingaman, the music department will be able to make repairs to give Tekonsha a total of six playable timpani!
We cannot express how grateful we are for the generosity that is shown by our community toward our school and our students. We hope everyone is able to come to our spring concert to see the beautiful new timpani in action!