At Thetford Elementary School, sixth grader Malcolm Marchesi excitedly raised a hand every time his band teacher asked for a volunteer to play a note or part of a song.
When called on, Malcolm struck the drum, and his peers took turns with their own instruments too, showing off what they’ve learned in these first few weeks of practice.
On Thursday morning, band students filled the room, buzzing with energy as they started assembling instruments and waited for their teacher, Katherine Hollander, to guide them through the music in their second practice as a full group.
But some students, including Malcolm, joined last year and decided to stick with it.
“I think that it’s really fun just to be here and to practice my instrument,” Malcolm said after practice.
Hollander said making music uses the whole brain, and teaching children the fundamentals, such as sound and rhythm, sets them up for success later on.
“If you want to have a high school program, you have to start at this level,” Hollander said Thursday in the band room.
In the Upper Valley, some districts offer band classes as early as elementary school, preparing students to excel in their instrument in middle and high school — or at least bring good habits with them, such as focus, cognitive flexibility and teamwork.
“You get a sense of community while you’re doing a team-building activity, you know,” said Hollander. “If we don’t work together, we’re going to fail.”
Creating a place to belong
The band program at Thetford Elementary School off Route 113 didn’t exist before Hollander joined in 2020. Over the years, she’s found systems that work and learned from mistakes running the show.
And she tells her students it’s OK to make mistakes too.
Hollander noted their piece for the holiday concert in December is challenging, but it doesn’t have to be perfect.
“We’re going to practice it, learn it, do the best we can, and present it as that. Maybe it’s not finished, but it’s not about that,” said Hollander.
While band programs are most common at the middle and high school level, districts like Thetford make sure younger kids have the opportunity to start playing at an earlier age, and work to eliminate barriers to joining, such as cost.
As a result, many students are eager to master the skill.
River Jarvis, a Thetford Elementary sixth grader, tried out different instruments — including piano, baritone and clarinet — before deciding that bass clarinet is the best fit for her, she said.
Hollander walked her through how to prepare the instruments and play them, and it helped her make an informed decision about which one to put time into.
“She came in for a couple of her recess blocks just to explore those instruments,” said Hollander.
“I like to play by ear and figure out songs,” said River. “I figured out how to play ‘Deck the Halls.'”
Malcolm said he likes both taking lessons with just his percussion group and practicing with the whole band. He added that they’ve learned a lot already, and since it’s his second year, he can help some of the newcomers.
Some students chose less conventional band instruments, including sixth-grader Giuseppe Jamele on the guitar.
“I just like how it sounds,” said Giuseppe. “It was really hard at first, with the four-string bass, so I moved to six-string, but I only play with the first four strings.”
Giuseppe plans to continue playing guitar when he gets older, he said.
Hollander noted that their band method book, Accent on Achievement, only has an edition for the bass guitar, not for a regular guitar. The bass guitar has thicker strings, making it more difficult for children to play. Luckily, the top four strings on the regular guitar match the bass, so students like Giuseppe can still use the book.
“We adapt, we make it work,” said Hollander. “Whatever we need to adjust, we adjust.”
As a child, Hollander played the keyboard, which she said is also not a traditional band instrument. She recalled that her teacher didn’t put as much time into her instrument as others and, as a result, she struggled to read music and practice at home.
“I want to make sure everybody feels confident and part of the group,” said Hollander. “I want you to feel like you belong.”
Many families in the Upper Valley rent instruments from South Royalton-based Ellis Music, a longstanding provider of instruments for purchase, rental or rent-to-buy.
According to the company’s president, David Ellis, it’s their quest “to make teaching music as easy as possible,” he said Thursday.
In addition to the music store itself, Ellis Music has a full repair shop, educational representatives who visit schools, delivery service for instruments and parts, and a pickup service for instruments that need to be fixed.
Ellis Music has also tried to keep rental rates affordable, he said. Starting out 80 years ago, the company charged $1 a week. Today, beginner instruments cost $26 a month, Ellis said, adding that some advanced instruments like French horn can cost $55 a month.
Ellis has noticed that schools seem to be getting smaller, though band programs have seemed steady. He added that designated instrumental teachers are becoming less common, with general music teachers taking on the role instead.
He also noted that it can be “a battle” to get students interested in the program and willing to keep learning past the early excitement of experimenting with an instrument.
Making music accessible to everyone
Over at Indian River School, the Mascoma Valley Regional School District’s middle school, Dr. James Lorenz is working with students in fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades. They’ll ultimately fall into two separate groups, but it’s mostly dictated by schedule.
Lorenz told the Valley News that the new players in fifth and sixth grade seem particularly eager this year, and there’s a total of 75 students in the program, a high point since the COVID-19 pandemic, despite a lower population of students than he’s seen in his eight years at Indian River.
While Lorenz said it’s never too late to learn an instrument, learning young can help with multitasking and overcoming challenging material.
“They’re learning to read basically a foreign language, and one that is sort of graphically representing something that is completely intangible,” said Lorenz, who added that the students who stick with it also tend to perform well in their academics.
The program mostly offers band instruments, such as trumpets, clarinets, trombones and percussion instruments, with some less conventional options. The school works to regularly acquire instruments to keep on hand.
“I try to do everything in my power to make sure that the affordability thing isn’t the problem,” said Lorenz.
Still, cost can be a barrier.
Lorenz noted that student-model clarinets cost around $1,000, and a tuba can reach nearly $5,000. The larger instruments are particularly expensive, even to rent.
“That’s where things become prohibitive,” said Lorenz.
Currently, about 43% of students use instruments loaned by the school, according to Lorenz. Even the less expensive instruments can cost about $30 a month to rent, though Lorenz is glad Ellis Music offers the rent-to-own option.
While there are many trumpet players this year, some students prefer the “oddball, outlier instruments,” said Lorenz, such as piccolo and soprano saxophone.
“I have a student who’s doing French horn, which is another more specialty kind of instrument. And thankfully, the high school had one that we were able to borrow,” said Lorenz.
The school tries to find money in the budget, little by little, and has worked out deals with Ellis Music where they pay off an instrument over an extended period, said Lorenz.
Physical space is a challenge this year. Lorenz noted he’s not sure how he’ll fit everyone in the band room for a full practice.
Leaving middle school, students sometimes face a choice between continuing with their instrument or other extracurriculars. More often than not, students stop playing due to scheduling difficulties.
“They can’t make it work,” said Lorenz.
In some cases, students “start to bloom” and fall into a rhythm after a couple of years of learning, he said.
Last year, Mascoma elementary music teacher Amy Morse introduced some band instruments to fourth graders, and Lorenz is seeing the benefits of those lessons in his current band cohort.
In addition to school concerts, the seventh- and eighth-grade students also attend the Trills and Thrills Festival at Canobie Lake in Salem, New Hampshire, said Lorenz. Last year, the jazz band and the select chorus went to the senior center in Canaan and performed there.
Celeste Dakai has twin daughters in seventh grade — Bella on the flute and Kate on the saxophone — in their third year of band at Indian River. She believes arts should always be part of public school education, and that the band program teaches life skills, such as how to be representatives of the school and encourage peers, in addition to music.
“They take a lot of pride in the pieces they work on as a group,” Dakai said of Bella and Kate.
She also noted that the rental program through Ellis Music makes it easier for students to join the band program.
“We certainly couldn’t afford to purchase one of these instruments outright. So I think it’s extremely important that the rental programs exist,” said Dakai.
And for some families in the Upper Valley, the passion doesn’t go away after aging out of the program.
Tammi DeFelice’s daughter, Laura, is a seventh grader at Indian River who primarily plays tenor saxophone in the band, but practices other instruments, including the violin.
DeFelice’s older sons, Nic, 16, and Stephen, 19, continued learning instruments after they graduated from middle school.
Stephen started playing trombone in the Indian River School band and still plays today. Last year, he participated in the concert band at Plymouth State University.
When Nic asked for a saxophone for Christmas in third grade, the DeFelices rented one, and he started taking lessons in elementary school. Today, he plays baritone, alto and soprano saxophones, plus guitar.
“Our house is like a concert every night,” said DeFelice. “I absolutely love it.”
For Lorenz, the band program helps teach students the value of stick-to-itiveness and how to persevere through what can be a frustrating learning process. And instructors like himself and Hollander are there to encourage their students along the way.
