Jones Hall at Fort Lewis College was exploding with the sound of music Saturday as about 100 young virtuosos precariously plucked and puffed at an array of instruments.
Katzin Music & Studios, FLC and local nonprofit Music in the Mountains invited the area’s young people to try their hand at 15 different instruments, for free, for Instrument Discovery Day.
Under an instructor’s guidance, students have the chance to play clarinet, saxophone, drums, flute, voice, horn, guitar, tuba, bass, violin, viola, cello, trombone, trumpet and piano – and find out which instrument is their personal forte.
While most were novices, they were enthused to test their skills, particularly with the bigger, louder instruments.
“It’s always fun,” 7-year-old Hayden Hollister said in summation, expressing his taste for the tuba in particular because it’s “loud and big.”
“I play the harp,” said Tava Gilpin, 7, who asked for the instrument for Christmas. “It’s not very common. It’s so big!” On Saturday, she found a new favorite instrument in the cello.
The squeak of strings and the buzzing of brass spilled from the Jones Hall recital rooms as FLC students, Katzin Music instructors and other musically inclined community members showed kids the basics through a series of mini-lessons.
“It’s good for them to get a variety of instrumental experience,” said Katherine Ramos, whose children Mary Jane, 8, and Alan, 6, were among Saturday’s young attendees. “The discipline they learn will probably benefit them for the rest of their lives.”
For the past four years, Instrument Discovery Day has been held at the college, though the program has existed in some capacity for about 30 years. Katzin Music owner Ruth Katzin forged partnerships with the college and Music in the Mountains, a nonprofit supporting music events and education, to bring music to more people.
Music consumption, Katzin said, pales in comparison to the first-hand experience of picking a guitar, tickling the piano keys or assailing a drumskin.
“When a child hears and sees an instrument, that’s only two pieces of the puzzle,” Katzin said. “The other piece is to see if it feels good. One of my children only wanted to play clarinet but tried the oboe and now she’s an oboist. If they haven’t experienced all the instruments, that can lead to time and money wasted to switch.”
Oskar Searfus, a 16-year-old junior at Durango High School, volunteered Saturday to teach the virtues of cello, to which he devotes about two hours a day to practicing.
“I started playing in fourth grade because my brother learned violin. I didn’t like that,” he said. “I wanted to get as far away from that as I could. Now I play chamber music festivals and it’s a big passion of mine. It’s my favorite thing to do, and I like to have other kids get into it, too. Particularly because school arts programs aren’t well-funded.”
Similarly, Holden Becher, 14, volunteered to help the instructors and watch his younger peers fall for music like he did.
“I play everything but flute and clarinet, which I’m learning,” Becher said. “Saxophone is the coolest instrument of them all. You can play it classically; it can be rock, funk, jazz, depending on the way you finesse the instrument.”
jpace@durangoherald.com
