Making the band: Evergreen fifth-graders

Help from residents was instrumental

Few classes are as interactive as band.

While every class demands something from both teacher and student, few produce a result like band, with everyone contributing to one harmonious end.

And thanks to a decision at Evergreen Junior High School, more students have had the chance to participate this year than ever before.

This is the first year that fifth-graders have been allowed to take band at the junior high.

The simple decision has quadrupled the number of students in beginning band class and has the potential to contribute greatly to Glacier High School's band program once the Evergreen students graduate with four years' experience instead of three.

While music teacher Kurt Weber hoped the fifth-graders would be enthusiastic, he was somewhat unprepared for the extent of their interest, Principal Kim Anderson said.

"To say that he was overwhelmed is probably unrealistic," she said. "It was wonderful to see" how many students signed up for band.

The number of students in beginning band - previously a class reserved for sixth-graders - swelled this fall to 33 from the previous average of eight. It has created a problem, Weber said, in that there isn't a wide variety of instruments to go around.

"There were kids who wanted to try an instrument, and they couldn't because they couldn't afford it, and I didn't have any left," he said.

Some students seem better suited to some instruments than others, he said.

"Kids will come to play instruments, try them out, find something that suits them - their lips or their facial structures or something where they're better at making a reed buzz than they are blowing into a trumpet mouthpiece, or the other way around," he explained.

With other, sometimes more pressing needs such as new textbooks and other classroom supplies, instruments often don't fit into school districts' budgets. To help his students, Weber asked the Evergreen parent-teacher organization to help purchase new instruments.

He was hoping for percussion instruments and an alto saxophone or two. The PTO was willing to help but suggested striving for something more than a couple of instruments.

"I think since there's so many kids involved and we saw this spike in interest all the way across the board, they wanted to do something bigger than that," Weber said.

The PTO suggested an instrument drive, a concept other school districts have used successfully. Last spring, Whitefish launched an adopt-an-instrument program, through which the district has acquired a few clarinets, a couple of flutes, a trumpet and cash donations.

The Whitefish Rotary Club recently gave the band program $2,500, high school band director Mark McCrady said.

"That won't buy a tuba, but it will get you halfway to a tuba - or two-thirds," he said.

The program still has several items on its wish list, he added, but he is grateful for the gifts the school has received. Finding new instruments might not be possible without those donations, he said.

"There is no funding in the school district É for music equipment - for new instruments or replacing old ones. We had to come up with something creative," he said. "In a community so generous, as Whitefish is, if you just sort of provide the opportunity, people will jump up and go for it. It's been really nice."

The generous gifts include about 20 beginner violins for the orchestra department, a donation from Whitefish Credit Union. Thanks to that, fifth-graders at Whitefish Middle School get two-week crash courses in beginning violin, McCrady said.

The band program's biggest needs include replacing decades-old percussion equipment that has nearly reached the end of its lifespan, more beginner instruments for students to rent and new tubas.

"I had to tell three or four kids this year, 'you can't play tuba,'" McCrady said. "That's like the cardinal sin of band directors: You never want to turn away kids who want to play the tuba."

Other school districts may not have formal instrument drives in place but could still benefit from donations. Even large districts such as Kalispell Public Schools do not have the money to frequently replace instruments or to provide every piece a band or orchestra might need.

"When kids begin in band, they are responsible for providing the 'smaller' and less-expensive instruments - even though they can cost between $800 and $2,000 new," said Allen Slater, Flathead High School's band director.

Those instruments typically include flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, trombones and percussion kits, including snare drums and bells, Slater explained. The schools have larger, more expensive instruments, such as French horns, tubas, bass drums and xylophones.

The instruments are built to last, but they can't endure forever - and as school budgets get tight, replacing the instruments can be a challenge. Students who can't afford their own may sometimes rent from local music shops, but even that is sometimes too expensive.

Many students - from 10 percent to 15 percent in Whitefish and from 30 percent to 40 percent in Evergreen - depend on the schools to supply their instruments. And many people - particularly those with abandoned instruments gathering dust in closets or attics - could help meet that need.

Instrument drives don't mean a school district doesn't value its music program, Weber said.

"This school supports the music program," he said. "The instrument drive is not because music is on the bottom. In fact, it's exactly the opposite: People are wanting to do something to support the music program."

Research has shown that music programs are valuable. Music students often perform better than other students on standardized tests, McCrady said.

"More important, it allows them to be a whole person," he added. "It allows them to be creative, expressive, to connect to cultures other than their own and history beyond their point of reference on the radio. É That's a hard thing to put into a standardized test."

Weber agreed.

"For the kids involved, it's hard for me to say it's a necessity - but it's more an imperative. They get something out of it that they don't get out of another class," he said. "There's something unique about the experience."

Evergreen's instrument drive lasts through the end of the month. Whitefish's adopt-an-instrument program will continue indefinitely. For further information, contact the schools.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com