School hesitates to buy new drum set

Kimball School’s instrumental music teacher, Kristi Hiles-Smith, requested a new set of timpani, the kettle-like drums in progressive sizes.

“The timpani that we have are over 40 years old, so I thought that it is perhaps time that we try to upgrade those,” Hiles-Smith said. “There are issues with keeping them tuned and have them work the way they are meant to work.”

Along with the request, made at the July 16 Board of Education meeting, Hiles-Smith provided three quotes for the equipment and requested $2,000 from the Kimball School Foundation to help offset the cost of the timpan...