Striking up the band once more

Forty fifth-graders stumbling through eight measures of "Jingle Bells" on assorted instruments might sound like torture to some, but it's a welcome addition for Nicole Rubis, a high school band director in Columbia Heights.

Rubis is also director of the newly reinstated fifth-grade band at North Park Elementary, the third and final elementary school in the district to bring back a program that fell victim to budget cuts in the early 2000s.

Fifth-grade band began its comeback in the fall of 2009, when the VH1 Save the Music Foundation chose the district to receive three one-time $30,000 grants. The money was used to buy about 35 instruments and lesson books for each school, and the programs were renewed at Valley View in 2009, Highland Elementary in 2010 and now North Park.

Mary Bussman, principal at Columbia Heights' middle school, said the grant application was submitted as part of the district's five-year plan for visual and performing arts.

"We talked about the need in our district to be able to provide the instruments for the kids," Bussman said. She estimates that more than 70 percent of the district's students live in poverty and would be unable to participate in band without school-owned instruments.

The VH1 Save the Music Foundation officials said they chose Columbia Heights in part because of the commitment from district leadership to the music program. "It's not just one principal or one music teacher who believes in it," said Chiho Okuizumi, grantee and compliance manager for the foundation.

The foundation had previously given about $400,000 in grants to nine other Minnesota schools, mostly in Minneapolis.

Okuizumi said the foundation has seen an increase in demand from districts around the country over the past few years because of the bad economy. "I think our work, in terms of advocating for music education and helping districts start or restore the programs, is getting more and more important," she said.

Taking the stage

In Columbia Heights, six weeks after this year's fifth-graders first picked up instruments, about 100 of them took the stage for their inaugural performance, as part of a community celebration for the schools, the foundation and Comcast, which partnered with the foundation to help fund the grants.

Aiyana Stephens-Moore, a 10-year-old at North Park elementary who plays a trombone nearly as tall as she is, said she was nervous before the concert, but excited to perform.

Because the instruments are doled out on a first-come-first-served basis, Stephens-Moore said most had already been chosen when she signed up for band.

But she said she enjoys showing off her trombone to her family and is happy to be using it. "I'm glad because most instruments are very expensive," Stephens-Moore said. "To get one from the school is a good opportunity."

Amir Davis, an 11-year-old from Brooklyn Center, knows how much of a head start he is getting in the fifth-grade band program. His sister is a year older and also plays the trumpet, he said. "She recommended it to me, and I thought it would be fun to play," Davis said, adding that he thinks he is getting more experience than his sister, who didn't have the option for fifth-grade band.

Bussman said the middle school has had to add more bands to accommodate the students moving up from the fifth-grade programs at Valley View and Highland. She estimates there are 270 students in six ensembles, compared with about 120 students four years ago.

In the near future, the district will need to buy more instruments for students unable to afford them at the middle school and high school levels, Bussman said. District-wide, Bussman estimates about 80 to 85 percent of students in band programs are using school-owned instruments.

Money has been set aside to help replace decades-old instruments and increase the inventory.

"We have made the commitment that every kid who wants to play an instrument will have a quality instrument in their hands to do so," Bussman said.

Emma Carew Grovum • 612-673-4154 Twitter: @CarewGrovum