Friends of Music has given Berkeley Heights Elementary School a $400 grant to help with the purchase of additional xylophones for its music classes.
The instruments, Lyons-brand diatonic soprano xylophones, will be used by students in the school's kindergarten through second-grade general music program.
"The grant will help more students get opportunities to play the xylophone," says music teacher Meghan Butler, who requested the grant. "Aside from the benefits of learning such musical concepts as dynamics, tempo, beat, rhythm, and melodic notation, students will also learn to build on skills outside of musical ones, such as hand-eye coordination, gross and fine motor skills, creativity, and expression."