Before the bell rings, the band classroom at Vikan Middle School in Brighton is chaos.
Dozens of students in a semicircle play their trumpets, horns, and drums over each other.
"Everybody say, 'Shh….,'" said band director Aaron Carnahan, calling class to order with a baton in hand.
The eighth-grade class was rehearsing for their final concert as middle schoolers.
"This is the first time, so if there's any weirdness, that's okay," Carnahan said, before the group launched into a piece called "Bugs."
When Carnahan first arrived at Vikan three years ago, there was an intro-to-music class, but no band.
He immediately began working to change that by handing students instruments the school had lying around.
"At first, we had to do a lot of sacrificing of convenience," said Carnahan. "Things like sharing instruments and sanitizing in between."
He sourced second-hand woodwinds and brass from organizations such as Bringing Music to Life and nearby high schools.
He went classroom to classroom recruiting kids to join. Now, about 180 kids — almost half of the school's students — are in band.
This level of participation is a big deal because Vikan is a Title 1 school, meaning it serves many students from low-income families.
Most can't pay all of the fees for instrument rentals. So, Carnahan has had to piece things together through donations.
Lack of data
Classes like music, art, and theater are no longer a staple of public education.
Still, some schools are building thriving programs with minimal resources.
"It's really not fair that some children have access to the arts in their K-12 years, and some do not — and some have absolutely no access," said Daisy Fodness-McGowan, the executive director of Think 360 Arts for Learning, a Denver-based nonprofit.
A 2011 report from the National Endowment for the Arts suggested arts classes had been declining since the 1980s.
Colorado lacks comprehensive data on how much arts education students receive.
Fodness-McGowan's organization is trying to fill in some gaps with a new report on the number of licensed arts teachers in the state, which revealed a decline, especially in rural areas.
"It all comes down to money," she said. "And it's going to be district by district, and even largely school by school, to decide where that funding goes."
As a classically trained actor and dancer, Vikan Middle School Principal Fabricio Velez said he understands the value of providing arts opportunities to students.
"We do whatever it takes," he said. "That does not mean that we have the funds — it just means that we prioritize."
That might mean not being able to send as many teachers to professional development conferences, supplementing other areas of the budget with grants, and reevaluating its offerings.
Next year, Vikan is dropping its choir class for more career and technical education options.
He said the decision was made based on student interest.
Passionate teachers
Across the state, passionate teachers like Carnahan are keeping classes like dance, theater, and music strong.
He said his goal was to make band at Vikan Middle School invaluable. A big part of that, he said, was getting students to like and trust him.
"I always try to make as many jokes as possible," Carnahan said. "Just let them know that even on the stressful days, we'll have at least a little bit of fun."
His class could be the reason some kids come to school.
"There are those kids who would, on a day where they just weren't feeling it or were kind of sick, would otherwise choose to stay home," he said. "But many of them end up coming to school because they're like, 'Well, I don't want to miss band. We're running this song today and I really don't want to miss that.'"
Research supports the idea that arts education pays dividends for students, leading to higher attendance and engagement, and even better grades.
The best part of the day
Band class is the best part of the day for Brayden Williams, who dons a cowboy hat and boots.
"I always love being able to play that first note of the day," he said.
Williams picked up the alto saxophone as a sixth grader in Carnahan's class.
Now, in eighth grade, he's part of an after school ensemble and composes his own songs. He wrote one for his grandmother, who is fighting cancer.
He said being in band helped him with another one of his passions: taekwondo.
"Making our own choreography; learning how to be on beat and on time with everything," he said.
While Tiffany Escobar Apodaca joined the band a bit later —
midway through last year — she jumped right in.
She had played piano before, but said it was fun learning her new instrument, the tenor saxophone.
She said students in the class are supportive and help each other through tough sections.
"We can get something wrong and nobody will shame us for it really at all," she said.
Strings are next
At the end of the school year, parents, grandparents, and siblings packed the gymnasium for the spring concert.
They filled up the bleachers and spilled into overflow chairs lined up along the edges.
The middle school students took their seats with their respective grades, wearing all-black concert outfits.
Carnahan said this concert was particularly special because the eighth graders were his first group of band students at Vikan, and now they're moving on to high school.
"It's always the bittersweet feeling of sending them on to live the rest of their life and still being proud of all the work that they've done," he said.
But Carnahan has a lot to look forward to. This upcoming school year, he'll launch a brand-new string orchestra.
Donated violins and cellos will arrive over the summer, ready to make music in new hands.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado, and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by CPB.
