4 • The Southwest Portland Post
NEWS
May 2015
School band programs get $925,000 boost for new instruments
By KC Cowan
The Southwest Portland Post
The Portland Public Schools board
of directors recently voted to invest
nearly a million dollars in new musical
instruments for school bands, and
Southwest school music programs will
benefit.
The special Portland Arts Tax pays
for music teachers, but the money can’t
be used to buy new instruments, so the
school board agreed to the one-time
investment. It’s long overdue. Some of
the tubas, clarinets and trumpets have
been in rotation since the 1940s.
During the recession, many middle
Sixth grader Conor Walsh started learning
trombone at Jackson Middle School this
year. (Post photo by KC Cowan)
and grade schools had to abandon
their band programs, and they’ve been
clawing their way back ever since.
Jackson Middle School is an example.
It reinstated its band program just last
year with a single class for beginning
band music.
This year, Kristin Cywinski took over
the program; she teaches three classes.
She loves her job and her students. But
it’s been a struggle, with an inadequate
number of instruments in the district for
students to rent.
“Just about a month ago, we finally
got our first bass clarinet,” Cywinski
said. “But I have three people who are
going to play it, and so we have three
mouthpieces and (the bass clarinet)
has to stay here and the students take
their own clarinets home to practice the
fingering.”
Cywinski pointed out that the bass
clarinet is a vastly different instrument
than a regular one and students can’t
practice the “wind” aspect of that
particular wind instrument because it
never leaves the school.
Of her 67 students, 17 rent instruments
from the district that they can take home
for approximately $30 a year.
Others either own their instruments
or rent one from a music store for
around $30 a month. That price makes
it impossible for some children to
participate in band at all.
“My goal is that anyone who would
have the desire to play an instrument,
regardless of their socio-economic
status, would be able to play in a band,”
said Cywinski.
“And that’s one reason why these
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instruments coming from the district
are so important,” she added. Cywinski
said she is “thrilled and excited” at the
prospect of increasing her inventory.
She said she particularly longs for
a bass tuba that is small enough for
middle school students. The one she
has is better suited to a high-schooler.
“We can play anything, but what we
are missing, because we have no tuba,
is the bottom. And every good musician
knows that the most
important
part of any ensemble is the bass line;
it’s the foundation.”
The $925,000 budgeted by the District
will purchase nearly 750 instruments.
J e n n i e J o h n s o n , w h o re p a i r s
instruments for PPS, said she will
mostly use it for flutes, clarinets and
trombones, although after conducting a
thorough inventory, she will fill specific
needs for some band programs. Not
every request can be honored.
“Three million (dollars) would be
needed to make every school equal,
but this is huge, more than we’ve ever
received in one lump sum,” Johnson
said.
Every day six to seven instruments
come into her shop for repair. She does
her best with the aging inventory. As
much as she’d like to retire some of the
existing 3,500 instruments now being
used, the school district can’t afford to.
“We’ve kind of been ignored for 25
years, with nothing purchased for about
that long, so as instruments get more
wear and tear there’s only so much
repair you can do, and either have to
completely rebuild or toss them.”
The bids go out soon and the coming
Kristin Cywinski, band director at Jackson
Middle School, holds a tuba, one of the
instruments she hopes to replace soon.
(Post photo by KC Cowan)
school year will open with shiny new
band equipment shipped to band
programs across the district.
The benefits go beyond making
music. A music program can sometimes
be the thing that keeps a student excited
about school.
That describes first year band student
Conor Walsh. He chose the trombone
because “it’s the loudest and most
obnoxious” instrument.
After trying many different clubs
and activities at Jackson Middle School,
it was band that captured Walsh’s
enthusiasm. “It’s my favorite class of
the day,” he said.
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