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November 27, 2009

Teens help rescue music program

One-on-one tutoring brings new players up to speed

By Cate Lecuyer

BEVERLY — When fifth-graders stopped signing up for the music program last year, high school junior Alison Buchsbaum and her mother were worried.

"It's done so much for (our family)," she said, "and I wanted other people to grow up and experience that, and not just not pick up an instrument because they didn't know any better. I just didn't want it to die out."

So Alison and four other high school students have started mentoring their younger, middle school counterparts. Once a week after school, they tutor a small group of rookie sixth-graders in whatever instrument they're learning.

"We realized we had to do something to bolster our numbers for the sixth-grade class," Briscoe band director Adam Costa said.

The decline began last year, when the district eliminated the full-time band instructor and moved the middle school music program to 7:30 a.m., before school starts. Students who start playing in fifth grade tend to go on to play in the high school band, but after the program changed, kids stopped signing up.

Fifth-grade participation dropped from about 80 students to 30, and Costa and high school band director Ray Novack worried their feeder program would fizzle out.

The position was reinstated this year, and they breathed a sigh of relief, but it left the incoming sixth-grade class with only 24 returning students. So Costa did what any dedicated instructor would do — he started recruiting.

"In years past, we've never had to do this," he said.

The effort brought in 25 newbies and doubled the size of the band — but many had no musical experience.

Enter the high school juniors, who are working to bring the sixth-graders up to speed with the rest of class — in time for the December holiday concert.

In addition to Buchsbaum on clarinet, there's Sarah Bowen on flute and alto saxophone, Lisa Stoneham on low brass, Nate Schlein on trumpet, and Adam Constantine on percussion.

"The kids who make a conscientious effort to come each week are really excelling," Costa said. "They're really pumped to have the edge."

'Cool' — for both sides

Autumn Becker is one of those students. She sat with her saxophone recently, practicing "Jingle Bell Rock" one-on-one with Sarah.

"We're going to slow down a little more," Sarah said after Autumn played some notes. "Because some you're rushing, and some you're not." They've been working on tone and pitch and making sure Autumn gets all her fingering down.

"It's harder to explain how to do stuff than you think," said Sarah, who wants to be a music teacher. "But usually she understands what I'm saying."

Autumn laughed.

"She usually shows me the fingers, and I put down the same fingers she has and then just blow and see what happens."

But she's picking it up pretty quickly, especially after having four years of piano.

"I thought I should try something new," Autumn said.

In another room, sixth-grader Rebecca Dupont picked up the clarinet with no experience.

"I've never played an instrument in my life," she said. But she's come a long way while working with Alison.

"It's cool to see someone grow in their abilities and know I had a little bit to do with that," Alison said.

The mentoring program has been so successful that Costa said he'd like to keep it up, even as the band continues to grow.

"It's very informal, but it's consistent," he said. "I think it's been great for the high school kids to get their feet wet with one-on-one and group teaching. And it's been good for the sixth-graders to get instruction from someone other than me."

Staff writer Cate Lecuyer can be reached at clecuyer@salemnews.com.

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