Hollister
– Pointer, pointer, pinkie, thumb. Without an instrument to
learn on, a child’s small fingers hold a No. 2 pencil, practicing
the fingering to play a flute.
Hollister – Pointer, pointer, pinkie, thumb. Without an instrument to learn on, a child’s small fingers hold a No. 2 pencil, practicing the fingering to play a flute.
The image of a child learning flute on a pencil was one that stuck with Jodie Marshall, the catering sales director at Ridgemark, since she read a Free Lance article about the band instrument shortage in the Hollister School District two years ago.
So when Marshall was asked to come up with a community service campaign for her 2007 Leadership San Benito class, she quickly thought back to the child with the pencil and suggested the group start a campaign to collect musical instruments for the district.
“I remember thinking that was such an easy problem to solve – with just an instrument,” Marshall said. “The thought of having to turn a child away just struck a chord with me.”
In February, Marshall and the leadership class started on their campaign to raise funds and collect instruments and supplies for the Hollister School District music program. Their goal is to collect at least 50 instruments and $2,500 before the start of next school year.
Susan Chizek, who teaches the music classes at the six elementary schools in the Hollister School District, said there is an ongoing shortage of instruments in the district.
“It’s been a constant thing. If we get more instruments, (there are) more chances for the kids to play,” Chizek said.
She estimates that at least half of the fourth graders who start band initially learn without an instrument. Some 300 fourth-grade students start band every year, but the school district music program has only about 50 instruments.
“Everybody gets a pencil: clarinets, flutes, trombones, even percussion – they get two pencils,” Chizek said. “Some kids will stick in there for three months, but if you don’t have the real thing, it’s just not as exciting.”
Fifth-graders on free or reduced lunch get first choice of the instruments, leaving very few instruments for the beginning students.
Jenny Dela Cruz, a fifth-grader in the advanced band at Calaveras, used a pencil as a substitute for a flute for more than a month before a school instrument was available to her.
Getting used to playing was a strange experience after initially learning on the pencil, she said, especially perfecting the breathing.
“It was kind of hard the first time,” Dela Cruz said. “I couldn’t blow because I didn’t on the pencil.”
Now, with her own flute, Dela Cruz shows excellent breathing technique, holding a note while one of her classmates tunes his instrument by matching her pitch.
Marshall is hoping the Leadership San Benito campaign will raise awareness of the instrument shortage in the district.
“I don’t want it to be a one-time collection,” Marshall said. “I’m hoping I can keep it in the public eye. There’s always going to be a dusty instrument someplace that a child can benefit from.”
So far the campaign has not collected any instruments, although the group did receive a $176 donation from Rotary on Monday.
Leadership San Benito members will be handing out pencils, representative of the pencils the students are learning on, with the note “Keep the Music Playing” over the next few months in order to get the word out.
“You can’t measure a child’s potential unless you give them that opportunity,” Marshall said. “Even if you put an instrument in a child’s hand and they find out it’s not for them, at least they have the opportunity.”
Alice Joy covers education for the Free Lance. She can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 336 or at [email protected].
