Strike Up The Band

Heart BEAT

About Needs & Good Deeds

W

AITSBURG -

Walking past the schools in Waitsburg last week, I heard squeaking and honking. It wasn't ducks or geese in town, it was the school children. I figured it must have been band day or music class at the middle school.

The kids were laughing and blowing their instruments as hard as they could. I smiled ear to ear because I do not find this obnoxious, but wonderful. It reminded me of my first time picking up my flute in fifth grade band and trying to play it and getting dizzy.

My sister started with the clarinet and moved onto the saxophone, so our home was a cacophony of noise, the two of us trying to play notes on our instruments.

Those first moments with my flute paved the way for my love of classical music. Heck, I even like jazz too! For a 25-year-old, I have found that it is very odd for me to like these genres of music and my poor fiancé has to suffer through concerts performed by classical singers (Josh Groban) when he'd really rather be in his Romeos at a country concert.

Music at an early age is a great thing and the teachers in the Waitsburg School District are really going out of their ways to get instruments in the hands of our kids. And the students aren't short on options to learn to play. There are 41 students in the middle school band and 21 in the high school band. The whole sixth grade participates in band for second semester. Also, there is a guitar class at the high school with more than 20 students. Fourth graders get to take a stab at learning to play the violin.

" We go at it several ways," said Brad Green, the middle and high school band teacher.

Green and Rebecca Wilson, the elementary music teacher, are always on the lookout for instruments. They scour Craigslist, pawn shops, yard sales and newspaper classifieds, buy used instruments and re-sell them to their students. Wilson said she is thankful her husband is on board with spending money out of pocket on the instruments.

"When I tell him I have found an instrument that has value, he doesn't question the price, but says 'it is only money, it is for kids,' and tells me to go for it," she said. "I can honestly say I don't know how much of our household budget we have spent on instruments for students, but it is probably sizable. Also, our superintendent and school board are also very supportive of music in our schools and have helped me pay for instrument repair that is beyond my expertise and ability."

And, sometimes community members donate instruments to the district and the teachers take the instruments in for repair and rent them to the students. The district rents instruments for about $50 a year, which is much easier for low-income families than the high prices charged by larger companies, Green said.

"It would probably be four times as much," he said.

Another way the district gets instruments by borrowing from the Walla Walla Symphony's lending program. Through this program, the district gets to keep instruments one year for free. The local blues society also offers this program sometimes, Green said.

Wilson's friend Martha Brodhead alerted her to a yard sale that was selling a trombone and a drum. The family with the drum even gave it to Wilson free of charge, she said.

"Many people in Waitsburg value music education in our community," Wilson said .

Waitsburg resident Ed Lawrence has donated thousands of dollars to the district for the music programs and its people like Lawrence in the community that keep programs thriving, he said.

"Because of them, we're able to handle it," Green said.

Most high school-aged music students have already secured an instrument for their classes because they have been playing for a while, he said. But younger students, those going into fifth grade, have a need.

For the high school's guitar class, the guitars have been donated, purchased by the district or are being borrowed. Even Kathy Carpenter, the district's after-school program supervisor, provided an acoustic and electric guitar for the course. The local Montgomery Family provided a bass guitar.

The violins for the fourth graders are a donation from the Walla Walla Symphony lending library that students keep at the school, Wilson said .

Wilson and her students are most in need of instruments, Green said. She's looking for alto saxaphones, trumpets, clarinets, flutes and an electric bass. This year alone, Wilson said she has cleaned and provided about 20 instruments to her fifth grade class and the same amount to the sixth grade class.

The bands give back their gift of music to the community with performances at high school football and basketball games, Hometown Christmas and other Christmas concerts. A special event is being held at the high school this year on Oct. 26 when bands from all over Southeast Washington gather to play together.

Those interested in donating instruments to the program, should e- mail bgreen@ waitsburgsd. wednet.edu or rwilson@ waitsburgsd.wednet.edu.