CMS music programs battle failing instruments
CMS music programs battle failing instruments
Band and orchestra directors say they're struggling to provide enough working instruments for students who need them because of repair budgets that have been too slim for years
The following article appeared in the September 25, 2024 edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
CMS band and orchestra directors say meager repair budgets make it hard to supply students with needed instruments; dented percussion bells, broken saxophone keys, out-of-commission basses
At East Mecklenburg High, band director Chris Moreau (pictured) has students using 88 school-owned instruments for either school band or concert band, not counting percussion instruments. The $700 CMS will pay for repairs will only allow three or four instruments to get repaired this year, he said. A French horn in his instrument stock (top left) has a damaged bell that Moreau fixed as best as he could and is in need of a chemical clean to allow the valves to work again. The saxophone (bottom left) has leaky pads and a broken register key that prevents it from playing correctly. (Photos courtesy of Chris Moreau)
by Cristina Bolling
East Mecklenburg High School band director Chris Moreau is on the cusp of turning 40, and some of the instruments on his band room shelves are older than he is.
That wouldn’t be a problem, he says, if he’d been able to send them out for proper maintenance in the decade he’s been at the school. But years of slim repair budgets by the school district, he says, have resulted in heavily used brass instruments deteriorating because of a lack of chemical cleanings, squeaking woodwinds due to worn-off key pads and dented percussion bells that don’t ring like they’re supposed to.
“I’ve tried to keep my inventory as good as possible, because I’ve got both marching band to deal with as well as our concert programs,” Moreau said. “But in 18 years at two schools, I’ve only received the six instruments from [Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools], and all of those have come within the past two years.”
Middle and high school band and orchestra directors in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools say they’ve long had to be resourceful in getting their stock of musical instruments repaired to keep their programs running, because of needs that far outstripped funding.
And as the school year started in August, the stress intensified.
Band and orchestra directors say they were notified in August that their repair budgets for the 2024-2025 school year had been cut from an average of about $700 per program to $300 — an amount some directors said they’d already spent before the first day of school.
On Tuesday, after The Ledger started asking questions about instrument repair funding, CMS officials told band and orchestra directors that an error had been made and that the repair budget for 2024-2025 actually amounted to about $700 per school — the same allotment as last year.
(Documents provided to The Ledger showed that teachers were told in 2021 and 2022 that the district had $113,000 for repairs district-wide, which worked out to an average of $700 per school. Directors say they weren’t given a dollar amount they could spend, but were told to put in requests until the district’s repair money ran out.)
In a statement to The Ledger, a CMS spokesperson said the district “recognizes the vital role our Arts programs play in our school community. We are committed to exploring new avenues to support and enhance these programs.”
Justin Pierce, who assumed the role of CMS administrator in charge of arts education in July, said the district will be working with directors throughout the year to help them set timelines for repairing their instruments by the five repair vendors approved by CMS.
But Moreau and other directors say $700 a year for repairs still isn’t close to what’s needed for a healthy instrument supply.
“Even after $700, we’re probably only talking about three or four instruments that can get repaired,” Moreau told The Ledger on Tuesday. “It’s like, OK, I can get another instrument or two repaired. Meanwhile, I’ve got directors telling me they’ve got kids sitting in classrooms without instruments.”
Making do: In many cases, students are required to provide their own instruments to participate in band or orchestra programs.
But for students who play large instruments, like cellos or tubas that are too big to haul to school, CMS provides instruments to be used in the classroom, and sometimes instruments for students to borrow and use at home. CMS also provides loaner instruments for students whose families can’t afford to rent or purchase one.
Orchestra and band directors say they stretch their budgets by loaning each other instruments when they’re able, and they learn how to fix instruments that aren’t in need of major surgery.
Schools with active booster programs, which tend to be in wealthier parts of the county, use money from fundraising to pay for repairs, although their funds are typically earmarked for extras like hiring coaches to teach specific instruments, bus transportation for competitions and sheet music, which isn’t paid for by the county.
At West Mecklenburg High, the out-of-commission instruments are stacking up, such as violins that need fingerboards reglued and cellos in need of sound posts, said orchestra director Jonathan Sullivan.
This year, four kids want to play the stand-up bass, a string instrument similar to a cello. (That’s an unusually high number for his program, he says.) Two of his four basses are totally unusable.
Sullivan doesn’t have an affluent student body or an active booster program to draw on — 99% of students at West Mecklenburg qualify for free or reduced lunch. He says he’s found a cello expert who will fix his cellos for free.
“You have to be resourceful and figure out a way,” Sullivan said. “I tell [students], ‘Listen — I don’t have a cello working right now, so you have to play the violin or the viola because that’s what I’ve got. And then once I get [a cello] in working condition, you can try it if you want.’”
Teacher burnout: Moreau said several CMS band and orchestra directors have left the district in the last year and taken jobs in other neighboring districts where they’ll have larger instrument repair and replacement budgets and larger stipends.
Moreau said he’s never received a stipend for his extra work taking band students to weekend competitions or other extra hours, but he does get a $3,000 stipend for directing the school’s marching band — an amount that he said was 25% higher before this year. Marching band eats up a month before school starts due to a band camp he has to run, as well as countless afternoons and weekends. Sunday afternoons he spends painting lines on the band practice field.
“When you work it out to an hourly wage, many of us are working for cents on a dollar per hour,” he said.
Moreau grew up attending Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and has spent 18 years there as a teacher — 8 years as band director at Independence High School and the past 10 years as band director at East Mecklenburg High. He says he’s “absolutely explored looking into going to other districts” because of the pressures he perceives he’s under that directors in some other districts aren’t.
“The burnout is real in dealing with these things,” Moreau said. “It is not just about money, it’s the lack of resources, its the lack of compensation, and it’s the fact that our jobs get harder and harder to do.”
Cristina Bolling is managing editor of The Ledger: cristina@cltledger.com
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