{"id":2316,"date":"2019-08-19T21:01:51","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T01:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/?post_type=news&p=2316"},"modified":"2020-08-16T23:19:22","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T03:19:22","slug":"chirp-is-in-the-news","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/news\/chirp-is-in-the-news\/","title":{"rendered":"ChIRP is in the News!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Repairs\"<\/h1>\n

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Pulling the strings behind the scenes<\/h1>\n

By Jenny Porter Tilley The Herald-Times <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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When Monroe County Community School Corp. students want to start playing a musical instrument, their parents incur extra costs on top of their book fees, lunches and other school expenses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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To rent a violin for the school year, for example, a family should expect to pay around $150, according to John Hansen, director of orchestras for MCCSC. To own an instrument could cost several hundred dollars \u2014 for an activity parents aren\u2019t even sure their kids will like and continue. If they stick with music, by the time they\u2019re in high school it might make sense to purchase their own instrument. But in the meantime, learning on an appropriate instrument can cause financial stress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Bloomington Symphony Orchestra\u2019s Children\u2019s Instrument Recovery Program has taken away that burden for some students\u2019 families for about 20 years. Thanks to donations of instruments as well as individuals\u2019 time and money, they\u2019re able to provide more than 100 loaners for beginner musicians for free. More than half of those are currently in the hands of students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Instruments donated to ChIRP often require repairs before they\u2019re passed on to young musicians. String instruments are turned over to Lucas Nelson Marvell at Bloomington String Instruments, where he repairs them in his shop to give them a new life. The local luthier (stringed instrument maker) first evaluates each one to see if it\u2019s worth repairing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThey get a lot of donations, but most times the instruments have a lot of work that needs to be done,\u201d Marvell said. With string instruments, repairs could include re-hairing bows, carving new bridges or repairing cracks and seams. He became involved with the program because he wanted to contribute to fostering a love of music and help students make art \u2014 and give them a chance to do so with the right equipment. Otherwise, he said, \u201ckids are going to get real frustrated, real fast. … Kids can\u2019t do this with a $50 or $100 Walmart fiddle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When Marvell started helping with ChIRP, he wanted to ensure that the loaner instruments were getting quality care from a skilled luthier, instead of being overcharged or getting shoddy work. \u201cEspecially with nonprofits, I can\u2019t let them overpay,\u201d he said, and that\u2019s why he does the repairs at cost and donates the labor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This year, he had some assistance preparing ChIRP violins. Madison Roze initially moved to Bloomington to study stringed instrument repair, but after a retirement at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, string instrument technology courses are not currently being offered. (According to school officials, string technology courses are planned to resume in 2020.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Still hoping to go into the field, Roze went to Marvell\u2019s shop to learn from a professional. Roze isn\u2019t a violinist himself, but he grew up with musician parents, and he remembers there always being one acoustic instrument or another lying around. He became interested in how they worked and the technical aspects that come together to create the perfect sound.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThat really appeals to me as something I want to do for my career,\u201d he said. And he liked volunteering to help with the ChIRP program as a way to give musical opportunities to more students. \u201cIt\u2019s interesting work on its own, but it\u2019s also important to make that kind of stuff accessible to people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Marvell said even if a student isn\u2019t pursuing music as a career, to get the benefits of music education, having an instrument in good shape is key. \u201cThey\u2019re at a stage when if they have early failures because the instrument is not performing the way it\u2019s supposed to, they\u2019re going to for sure drop it,\u201d Marvell said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Some might drop it anyway; a career in music isn\u2019t always the goal. But one student who\u2019s received a loan from the ChIRP program, Hannah Kabrick, is serious about pursuing music. She\u2019s participated in the year-round String Academy program at IU\u2019s Jacobs School of Music since her freshman year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kabrick is home-schooled, although she tried public school in seventh grade. She went back to learning at home so she could have a more flexible schedule that gives her more time to practice her violin. Up until seventh grade, she was using a smaller instrument built for children. If she was going to move forward, she needed a bigger violin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cA lot of times rentals, unless you\u2019re getting it from a very good luthier, they\u2019re not very good quality,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd to rent a violin from a luthier can be very expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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So she started playing on a violin loaned to her by the ChIRP program, allowing her family to save some money and allowing her to decide how serious she wanted to be about playing music. Now in her senior year, she\u2019s still playing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cHaving a good quality instrument means that the sound of the instrument, just by how it\u2019s made, is a lot better,\u201d Kabrick said. \u201cSo when you\u2019re a little kid and you\u2019re still kind of sawing way at it, it\u2019s a little more forgiving, and it helps you be able to develop an ear for a good sound and musical sensitivity that you might have to work harder at otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After benefiting from the kindness of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra and Marvell\u2019s shop, Kabrick is now passing on her love of music to the next generation. The high school senior works with young students at Fairview Elementary School through a collaborative program with the Jacobs School.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThose younger kids that are just starting out \u2014 it\u2019s just an amazing thing to see how excited they are to learn,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Children in Bloomington and surrounding areas younger than 18 who are either enrolled in a school music program or signed up for private lessons may be eligible to borrow an instrument for a one-year period through ChIRP. Find out more at bloomingtonsymphony.com\/outreach.chirp<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Contact Jenny Porter Tilley at 812-331-4377, jtilley@heraldt.com<\/a> or follow @jennylynne on Twitter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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