Page 17 - North Star Magazine 2022

an investment that many parents cannot make, and the violin is the cheapest instrument you can rent. From reviewing their websites, no alternative accommodations that could be more flexible to lower- income parents seem to be available. Vermont Violins is prideful of their services, claiming that their rentals are “an affordable way to provide high quality instruments for the new and advancing string player,” yet extra fees like these have excluded and will continue to exclude many kids from having the opportunity to participate in music extracurriculars and music education, especially in a small, poor city like Plattsburgh.
How long has the PCSD music department operated with limited funds and few instruments to give out? Who is receiving the instruments, and what does it look like when someone is affected
by the “pay-to-play” policies that are unfairly enforced upon the music programs? My sister, Devin, is a prime example of who these policies affect, facing the challenge of being able to play in the band as a 5th grader in 2001. She remembers there being very little emphasis on the band during her time in school, but she sought it out because she was interested in playing an instrument. The main instrument Devin was interested in playing was the saxophone, and because there are two elementary schools in the district, the four school-issued saxophones were only available to two students per building. Unfortunately, she was not one of the kids chosen, and
she recalls who the kids were that got the saxophones. “The boy’s dad owned McSweeney’s and the family was very involved in the community. Very affluent,” she states, and the other girl that got
the saxophone was no different: “Her stepmom was a guidance counselor at the middle school, and her dad was a foreign language teacher up at the high school. They were both heavily involved
in the schools.” Devin ended up getting one of her other choices
at least, settling for the clarinet, but she recalls in great detail
the state of the school-issued instrument: “The box was gray and resembled a briefcase, with black trims and silver hinges. And I remember it so clearly because I remember being embarrassed
of it.” She explains that the leather was worn off the case, the
silver hinges were tarnished, the black trim was coming off, and mentions the deteriorating state of the inside and the clarinet itself, having broken keys that would get stuck as she played. She even remembers the smell, old and musty. Devin states that all the other kids had newer instruments in compact plastic cases. She stuck with it until 6th grade, in which her clarinet finally broke. She asked to