Corbin Munger plays the marching French horn during orchestra rehearsel Thursday. The instrument was one of several that were bought through a fundraising effort. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

The Austin Public Schools band program is tuning up for a big future, and it’s getting plenty of help from the community.

The band program has grown at least 50 percent in the last two years, starting at about 114 students when Mariska took over and currently has about 170 students in the high school band alone. The fifth-grade band program saw 180 students sign up this year, which is almost double the amount last year, according to Mariska.

“There’s definitely enthusiasm for playing instruments and being a part of the program,” Mariska said.

Jose Phomsoukha plays one of Austin band’s two new sousaphones, part of the instruments bought with money from a fundraiser. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

But that means the program’s needs are growing too. The schools need more instruments, but those instruments can be costly.

The community has stepped up to help. Austin High School band director Bradley Mariska started a campaign last year to get donations for instruments, and this year he decided to do it again. The band has raised about $40,000 in the past year, and is still looking to raise about $20,000 for instruments this year.

“We started reaching out to community groups and started canvasing the community for opportunities for grants and such,” Mariska said.

 A challenge to give

Through word of mouth and a column in the Austin Daily Herald, Mariska has received many donations to the program, including two $5,000 donations.

“We’ve had a couple really successful donations just in the past month since that article ran,” Mariska said.

Both Gary and Pat Ray as well as Jeffrey and LeeAnn Ettinger each donated $5,000 to the band. Gary Ray heard about the program through word of mouth and the article in the paper and got excited to donate.

“This is a great community need so Pat and I decided this was a great community need to donate to,” Ray said. “Both of our children growing up in Austin had a great experience in the Austin High Orchestra.”

Ray also left a challenge for someone to match the donation.

“I like to challenge people,” Ray said. “I like to contribute to community needs but also think it’s good to see other people contribute to those needs.”

Although Mariska wasn’t sure if Ray was joking or serious when he made the challenge, he was glad to see the Ettingers match the donation. The Ettingers could not be reached for comment.

Ray said he was not surprised to hear that someone had matched his donation, with the different programs in Austin currently, such as Vision 2020.

“There’s a lot of enthusiastic people and enthusiasm going on in Austin right now,” Ray said. “I felt confident that somebody would match it.”

Ray has also been happy to see Mariska take an active part in the community and reach out to help students get instruments to participate.

“He’s really taking an active role in the community, and that’s really, really good to see,” he said. “Anytime that you can help further that cause, I think it means a lot to the city of Austin because of our strong musical background.”

There have been multiple donations since the effort started, and not all of it has been monetary. Many people have donated older instruments to the band, ones that have been collecting dust since they or their children graduated and stopped playing.

Jacob Burkhart pulls out a flugelhorn that was bought with money gained through a fundraiser. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

“We’ve had a lot of people donate instruments rather than money,” Mariska said.

Many of the instruments that are donated are brought to I.J. Holton Intermediate School for the fifth and sixth-grade students. Mariska explained that many students start off with more basic instruments, such as the clarinet or the flute, and when they get older move to more complex versions, such as the bassoon or the euphonium.

“That’s benefiting the program at a younger level as well,” Mariska said.

Since not many of the more complex instruments are donated, those are the instruments that require purchasing at the high school level. Unfortunately, these are also the instruments that are very costly.

“It’s the specialty instruments that you really need at the high school, and the cost of them is ridiculous,” Mariska said.

After receiving the $10,000 in donations recently, Mariska was able to pay for the second half of a bassoon and purchase a French horn. These two instruments alone cost $8,000. But with the band expanding in numbers and many students requiring instruments, Mariska is trying everything to raise money for his students.

“The program is growing and growing quickly, and we had to kind of look beyond the normal sources of income to make sure we had instruments for everyone,” Mariska said.

Mariska thinks band involvement numbers have also gone up because, since the drive, the band can offer more instruments to students who would not otherwise be able to afford them.

“We’ve been able to say to families or students, ‘You can be in band no matter what you’re income level is,’” Mariska said.

 Donations for the future

Mariska gave a presentation on Sept. 18 at the library, sharing his love for music with students, parents and community members. He also tries to buy gently used or refurbished instruments whenever possible, to cut some of the cost.

“We really just try to stretch our dollar,” he said.

Mariska said investing in good quality instruments will make a difference in the years to come.

“We’re making sure that even though some of these instruments are expensive, they’re going to last the next 50 or 60 years,” Mariska said. “As long as the students take care of them, the investments that we’re making today are going to pay dividends for generations of students.”

The band is still looking to purchase a jazz guitar, tuba, French horn, marching French horn, contrabass clarinet, practice marimba, high-octave crotales, used fiberglass sousaphone, bassoon, euphonium and a jazz flugelhorn. They are also looking to purchase concert dresses for the wind ensemble.

Mariska is grateful for the community’s generosity, and he is excited to hear what the future sounds like.

“The students that are participating in band and orchestra and choir are learning about what it means to be a team player and what it means to be a human, to work hard and express yourself in a creative way,” Mariska said. “Definitely things are going in the right direction.”