Music theory taught with wheels

Dan Kinkle, who has been teaching music at Maywood Middle School for 22 years, was thrilled to receive a donation that will help him develop music theory to his students.

"The school was given 30 Guitar Wheels that teach guitar on one side and music theory on the other side," he said.

Donated by Music Master Publishing, the wheels are a round, flat, hand-held tool that can be used by students to learn musical scales, degrees, chords, piano keyboard, inversions, concert pitch, and much more.

"The donation was greatly appreciated, especially in these days of tight budgets," Kinkle said.

Dustin Cheatham, chief executive officer of Music Master Publishing, said the company is passionate about music education."

"We were more than pleased to be able to make this donation to the music department at Maywood Middle School," he stated. "It came about from our Facebook page where we asked for recommendations of worthy music education programs that would benefit from a donation."

Cheatham said the company received dozens of referrals, and from those chose Maywood Middle School as one of the recipients.

Seventh-grader and band member Seth Blackburn said he "kind of understands" the wheel and is using it to learn to play the guitar.

Ryan Walden, a seventh-grader and band member, also plans on using the wheel to learn more about music theory.

"We haven't have the guitar wheels for very long, so even I'm still learning how to use it and implement it in my teaching," Kinkle said. "But it definitely provides a lot of learning in a small package."

The wheels sale retail for about $15 a piece, explained the music teacher.

Kinkle teaches music to about 400 students each week, including recorder and classroom music to the fourth- and fifth-graders weekly, and 80 band students daily.

"We have three bands here at Maywood that compromise the school's asse bled band," he said. "I will use the guitar wheels to teach my band and guitar students how and why things work the way they do in music."

Kinkle expressed his appreciation to the Corning Union Elementary School District Board of Trustees in giving his music department "110 percent of their support" to his program.

"Over the past five years the music department has been given a budget that provides for repairs of instruments, the purchase of supplies and instruments, and sheet music. I couldn't ask for anymore than that during these difficult budget times" he stated. "Working in this district has been a lot of fun."

Along with teaching middle school students the love and skills of music, Kinkle, a gifted percussionist, has been teaching percussion at California State University, Chico, since 1988, and has played with several bands over the years.

Most recently he has been performing jazz and big band music with Charles Valona in Redding, Linda Bott, and Frank D'Salvo in Palm Springs.

"I love music and love teaching it to the students," Kinkle said.