Upbeat about downbeat: College Community’s Prairie Creek school launches orchestra program

CEDAR RAPIDS — Orchestra is now a part of the curriculum in the College Community School District, starting with fifth-graders this year at Prairie Creek Intermediate School.

Over the next few years as the current fifth grade class makes its way through the Prairie school system, the orchestra program will grow with them, eventually reaching the high school.

Sandra Reedich, 10, a fifth-grader who is learning violin, said being a part of the program’s first year “feels really important.” She was inspired to pick up the violin by her grandmother, who also has played the instrument since she was a young girl.

The fifth grade orchestra students — many who picked up their instruments for the first time in August — performed for the first time last month. They are learning the proper posture and how to hold their instruments — violins, violas, cellos and bass — and bows.

Although the district has a robust band and choir program, school officials wanted to offer students a new opportunity.

“The collective experience across the fine arts is irreplaceable in our schools and in our world. To know we have broadened those opportunities is really fantastic,” said Jen McDonnell, principal of Prairie Creek Intermediate, a school for fifth- and sixth-graders. “To think they leave studious, structured classrooms to go create beautiful music that touches kids in a different way than math or science — it’s something we only get in a little wing of the school.”

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Superintendent Doug Wheeler said when he began as leader of the district almost six years ago, he heard from families and the community there was interest in having an orchestra program.

“It’s a risk that’s already paid off for us,” Wheeler said. “Students are engaged in orchestra and finding a lifelong love of music.”

It’s taken two years to officially launch the orchestra program as the district made decisions about funding the program, created the physical space for it in their schools, purchased instruments and hired a teacher.

That orchestra teacher — Taryn Kroymann — dreamed of having a program like this when she was a student at Prairie High School, graduating from the district in 2015.

Kroymann played violin in high school and was “very sad” there wasn’t an orchestra program at the time. Instead, she joined band, diversifying the instruments she plays.

This experience — combined with her giving violin lessons as a high school student — gave her an even greater love for music and for teaching music. It’s what inspired her to study music education at the University of Northern Iowa.

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Wheeler said music can prepare students for success in other areas of their life.

“There’s a persistence. You’ve got to practice, which is a good skill for students to have, and there’s a strong teamwork aspect of mastering your own instrument and working with others. There’s also a level of learning to be vulnerable when you make a mistake,” Wheeler said.

There are 76 fifth-graders enrolled in orchestra classes this year. The program started at Prairie Creek largely because the district was able to include the physical space needed for the program in plans for the building, which opened to students in August.

Prairie Creek, 8451 Kirkwood Blvd. SW, Cedar Rapids, was constructed as part of a facility plan to meet the demands of a growing student body in the district. It was part of a $54 million bond that was overwhelmingly approved by College Community district voters in March 2020.

The program will be expanded to include sixth-graders for the 2024-25 school year. For the 2025-26 school year, the program will be extended to seventh and eighth-graders at Prairie Point Middle School. Eventually, orchestra will be offered at Prairie High School.

Room will be made for the orchestra program at Prairie Point when ninth-graders move out of it and into the district’s new 9th Grade Center, which opens in fall 2024.

The district purchased 25 instruments with money from the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy, which is funded by property taxes levied and collected by the school district and can be used to pay for the purchase and improvement of grounds, construction of buildings and major equipment purchases.

More instruments will be purchased as the program grows.

Alison West, director of curriculum and assessment for the College Community School District, said the district spent about $40,000 on the instruments, curriculum, and adding places to store the instruments at Prairie Creek.

Kroymann said families mostly are expected to rent instruments on their own. Violins and violas cost up to $30 a month to rent.

Students who play the cello or bass have an instrument available to them at school, but are also expected to have an instrument at home they rent, so they don’t have to transport a large instrument between school and home.

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Cellos and bass can cost nearly $100 a month to rent, which could be a financial barrier to some families, Kroymann said. One of her priorities is for the school district to purchase more of these instruments for families who need to borrow them from school.

Kroymann encourages families to rent instead of buy for kids who are still growing because the wrong-size instrument can cause injuries. “I’m very adamant on making sure you have the correct size,” she said.

After the fifth grade orchestra’s first concert last month, Kroymann said the kids “finally feel like musicians.”

Having started the year learning to pluck notes and playing from memory, now the students are using bows and learning to read music.

“We’re officially string musicians,” Kroymann said. “They’ve been putting in so much work. I can tell they want to be here, and they’re excited about what they’re learning.

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