Sisters man donates sound equipment

Lauren Shultz and Eric King helped transport one of more than 15 pieces of recording equipment donated to the Sisters High School Music Department by local musician and business owner Ed Fitzjarrel. Photo by Jody Henderson

Music students at Sisters High School will work with top-quality digital audio recording equipment thanks to a donation by Ed Fitzjarrel of Sisters.

"Students in Concert Choir and Concert Band, the Jazz Choir and Jazz Band, and the Americana Project Class will benefit from the equipment in being able to document their hard work and progress," said music teacher Jody Henderson.

"Enough equipment was given to the school to set up a complete digital audio recording studio," Henderson said. "This will be a first-time resource opportunity for the students of the Sisters School District. Buying a recording studio package such as this one would have cost the district well over $10,000."

Fitzjarrel has been a life-long musician and had put together a high-quality studio recording system for his own use.

However, he is also a business owner and active in community service organizations and wasn't using the equipment to its full potential.

He decided to donate the equipment where it could be put to the best use.

"The more I thought about it, the better I felt about it," he said.

Henderson and his students certainly feel pretty good about the donation.

"This gift comes at a time when such equipment for our schools can only be dreamed about," Henderson said. "Thank you for thinking of the music department, Ed. And keep practicing so when we get this up and running you can come in to record some music with the students!"