Wisconsin Conservatory of Music looking for instruments for students and schools in need

Siblings Citlalli, Adrian Jesus and Cesar Gabriel Marin Rivera began listening to classical music long before they were born.

Their mother, Rocio Rivera Herrera, played Mozart and Beethoven while pregnant with each of her four children. She read that classical music not only calms babies but increases intelligence.

It’s having an impact.

“My children are very intelligent and, when they go to school, they are very disciplined, very talented,” Rivera Herrera said.

One specific talent they're developing is the violin. Three of her children — Citlalli, 12; Adrian Jesus, 11; and Cesar Gabriel, 7 — are learning to play the violin, thanks to donated instruments they received from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, where they also take lessons.

The conservatory regularly collects donated instruments and equipment to give to at-need students and schools throughout southeast Wisconsin.

Their mother says the program is a big help. But for Citlalli, it's all about mastering the violin so she can play her favorite composer, Vivaldi. Citlalli said she loves Vivaldi’s "Four Seasons." Her favorite of the four violin concertos is “Winter.”

“Ever since hearing classical music, I love the sound of (the) violin,” said Citlalli, who attends Kagel Elementary School with her brothers. “It makes me love playing my instrument."

The conservatory is gearing up for its biennial instrument drive to help more students like the Marin Rivera siblings get musical instruments. Student-level violins can cost upwards of $1,500 while renting one can cost between $28 and $35 a month.

The conservatory regularly collects gently used musical instruments and equipment to give to at-need students and schools. But every two years, it makes a public appeal for people to donate them.

The drive, called #BeInstrumental, is Saturday, Oct. 7. Donations can be made at four Milwaukee area locations: the Audubon Court Shopping Center (10 a.m.-5 p.m.), 333 W. Brown Deer Road in Fox Point; Brass Bell Music (10 a.m.-4 p.m.), 210 W. Silver Spring Drive in Milwaukee; Music & Arts (10 a.m.-4 p.m.), 12805 W. Janesville Road in Muskego; and at the conservatory (10 a.m.-5 p.m.), 1584 N. Prospect Ave.

“These instruments are meant to be played and we want to get them into the hands of someone who wants to play,” said John Bragle, the conservatory’s director of community programs. “If it is sitting in your attic and not sparking joy, bring it on by and we will find somebody who it will bring joy to.”

Since the drive began in 2017, the conservatory has collected about 350 instruments. The conservatory matches instruments with students’ or schools’ needs. But requests far outpace supply, especially for certain instruments like fractional-size violins and brass instruments like French horns or trombones.

Other instruments in need include guitars, complete drum sets and wind instruments like oboes or piccolos.

Here's the full list of instruments.

“We’ll take anything that’s in an orchestra or a band,” Bragle said.

Conservatory president and CEO Eric Tillich started the instrument drive in 2017.

“We always talk about children who wouldn’t have their pathway to music if we weren’t able to give this opportunity,” Tillich said. “Not every kid is going to turn out to be the best musician in the world. But we want to teach lifelong appreciation for music that starts at this age.”

Over the years, the conservatory has received some instruments with interesting histories — a trumpet that was played in World War II and a saxophone from the 1964 World's Fair. And the drive has turned up a fair share of unique instruments, from a mini accordion, called a concertina, and a set of renaissance recorders to something as simple as a harmonica.

But a lot of these instruments come with family histories, Bragle said. It could be as simple as a father passing an instrument to a son, a gift a parent saved up for, or a favorite trumpet that got a student through high school because he played in the band.

“It’s not just these huge stories,” he said. “It is those small stories, too. It is what it meant to the person who had it and what it could mean to the person who receives it.”

If residents don’t have an instrument to donate, they can help in other ways. The conservatory quickly learned during the drive’s first year that many of the instruments needed major repairs. So it established a repair fund to ensure the instrument is in good working order.

The instruments are cleaned and repaired before they're given to student. The average repair cost runs $200.

“This could be one of the most important things in a kid’s life — music-making. And having the right tools to do that is a big part of being able to do that,” Bragle said.

The siblings’ father, Adrian Marin Cervantes, is excited for his kids — and especially Citlalli — to have their own instruments. Before, the siblings borrowed violins from their elementary school’s music program. At the end of the school year, they had to return them, which interrupted their learning.

Now, Citlalli has her own violin. Marin Cervantes said it’s the right size for her, and she can decorate it with stickers.

“It’s such a great feeling,” Marin Cervantes said. “She’s excited because it belongs to her.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Conservatory of Music seeks instruments for students in need