SILER CITY — Miguel races into the music room after school.
The Siler City Elementary 3rd grader is jumping up and down with excitement as he sees the instruments neatly lined up on the floor. He runs to his spot in the front row, and eagerly unzips the black case. He beams at the shiny violin as if he’s opened a magical treasure chest.
As Miguel’s peers join him in the music room, the whispers of joy and anticipation for playing the instruments bounce off the walls. The class instructor, Miriam Bryant, has to restrain the students from zig-zagging the untightened bows across the strings.
The after-school strings program is now in its eighth week of teaching 3rd graders basic violin skills. The program, which is run at Siler City Elementary and Virginia Cross Elementary, is a collaboration between Chatham County Schools and Triangle Youth Music.
Across the two schools, nearly 40 students get to participate in the after-school lessons twice per week. More than 100 students applied to learn violin, but TYM and Chatham County had the resources to serve 40 students this year.
At the Siler City class, which has 19 students, Bryant leads off by teaching the students the proper technique for setting, holding and presenting their instruments.
The students only saw their new violins two weeks ago. Prior to receiving them, students practiced caring for their instruments with makeshift violins made of egg cartons, clothespins, paper and rubber bands.
“It teaches them to treat these instruments with care, and the proper technique,” Bryant said. “When you haven’t held that kind of instrument at nine years old, it can be a sort of stimulus overload, so the DIY violins help them ease into it.”
Miguel digs his egg carton violin out of the closet and pieces the craft together. He shows off how each row of the carton represents a different finger placement, and each column represents a string on the real violin. He then pulls out his makeshift bow — a clothespin attached to several rubber bands, a straw and a short wooden dowel.
He smiles as his pinky and pointer finger curl over the edge of the clothespin and shows off his bow-grip technique. Bryant gives Miguel a sign of approval and soon enough, the whole class wants to display their bow-grip for signs of approval.
That’s part of what makes the strings program so special — every student there is fully engaged with the material and wants to do their best.
“They feel special being here,” said Siler City Elementary Music Teacher Tracy Harvel. “They know this is a privilege that not all their friends got to have, and it’s something they want to learn so they take it really seriously.”
Sarah Whitney, director of Triangle Youth Music, says bringing this program to Chatham County has been exciting for both students, and her organization. TYM has partnered with several community organizations to bring the instruments to the kids and ensure they can all access the strings program for free.
“Students from low-income backgrounds often do not have the opportunity to play instruments,” Whitney said. “A lot of schools don’t have music programs, and if they do, there’s always a transportation issue, and a private lesson issue, and it’s costly to be part of these programs.”
Whitney said the program comes at a perfect time for the county, and the Triangle music education scene at large. In Wake County, where TYM is based, eight schools (of all grade levels) have cut funding for strings programs. Meanwhile, in Chatham, where population is rising and more students of all backgrounds are filling the schools, this program offers music education at no cost.
Because of the success of the program, Whitney and Sharon Allen, lead music educator for Chatham County Schools, have dreams of growing the strings program so anyone who wants to participate is able to.
The vision, Allen said, is to continue the after-school strings program for several years, and eventually create a middle school orchestra so the students currently in 3rd grade after-school strings, can soon play in the middle school orchestra in 6th through 8th grade.
Whitney agreed with this long-term vision, saying she hoped the program would eventually become so successful that TYM no longer needed to assist because there would be flourishing orchestras in middle and high schools throughout the county.
Students who participate in music education of some kind have higher attendance rates, improved self-confidence and academic improvements, according to studies from the University of California at Berkeley.
“Already in these kids, I can see it,” Whitney said. “More self-discipline and more focus, more ability to communicate effectively in a group. They’re learning real life skills here.”
Allen said those skills are especially valuable in the wake of Covid-19, where many children were isolated. For example, the 3rd graders in the strings program were kindergarteners when Covid began, so having this group setting to socialize and be creative together is a new and powerful experience in its own right.
“It’s only been like six weeks, and you go there and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Allen said. “It’s fascinating to see the transition already.”
Miguel’s attitude is emblematic of that transition seen in many students. The nine-year-old has dreams of being a soccer star and frequently sports jerseys from his favorite players.
But when the violin comes out of the case, and Miriam Bryant stands in front of the room, he’s entranced. Like he’d much rather be the next Vivaldi, instead of Messi.
The CCS strings program will continue until the end of the school year, with a joint performance on June 1 by the 40 students at Virginia Cross Elementary School.
Correction: The original version of this article stated funding as the sole reason Triangle Youth Music provided 40 violins. This decision was made under consideration of a multitude of factors, including funding. The original version the article also stated eight elementary schools in Wake County cut funding for strings programs. Not all eight were elementary schools. The article has been updated to reflect this information. The News + Record apologizes for this error.
Reporter Ben Rappaport can be reached at brappaport@chathamnr.com or on Twitter @b_rappaport