Teaching these beginning musicians how to play their instruments is a diverse group of volunteers who represent an impressive cross-section of the community. The volunteers, led by Simonds music teacher Terry Bermudez, teach the elementary students music fundamentals and skills specific to each instrument. "We have sort of dubbed it the Simonds School Community Band because it's such a broad range of people that help each other," says Bermudez.

The name couldn't be more appropriate: the Simonds School Community Band boasts more than 30 volunteer teachers and helpers who range from Simonds parents and other adults from the community, to students from local high schools and middle schools. In fact, students make up more than half the roster of volunteers. The band is an entirely volunteer-run venture, with volunteers setting up and cleaning rooms used for music lessons and doing other general support jobs. Additionally, Bermudez, or Mrs. B, as the students call her, donates her time to the band.

The band has blossomed from a volunteer effort that began four years ago when Bermudez sent home a letter to parents, seeking to revive a band that had been a casualty of budget cuts. She had definitely turned to the right community. "The school, the people, the community, really like the performing arts, so it's not a hard jump to go from there to revving it up again," says Bermudez. "The first year, the people who came to teach told me, 'We just want to give back to these kids what we had when we were in elementary school,' and some of them are professional musicians. I was just so thankful."

With all of that support, the band can offer students 24 weeks of instruction in a choice of seven different instruments, including French horn, saxophone, trombone and drums. The term "band," in this case, encompasses a whole volunteer-run program that includes small group lessons for beginning students, as well as an ensemble for more advanced students. Every student performs in two concerts, held in December and April.

The band is open to fourth and fifth graders, the upper grades at Simonds. Participation is voluntary and students who want to join sign up at the beginning of the school year. Nearly 80 have signed up this year. "These students are very diligent," says parent volunteer Joy Spodick, noting the strong attendance at weekly lessons.

Every Thursday evening, the band takes over roughly a dozen classrooms and the cafeteria at Simonds Elementary for instrument lessons and band practice. In the cafeteria, parent volunteer David Spodick directs the band, made up of fifth graders, who, in their second year of music lessons, will focus on how to play in an ensemble. The fourth graders, who are just beginning to learn an instrument, meet for small group lessons in the classrooms. Lessons are taught by a combination of volunteer adults and high school or middle school students. Bermudez lends a hand wherever needed, offering support and advice to teachers and devising lesson plans for those who request them.

Group lessons are small, usually with only about six or eight students. Because flute is an especially popular instrument, the group taking flute lessons has been divided in half so that class sizes stay small.

Anastasia Byshenk, a senior at Lincoln High School, has volunteered with the band for the past three years, teaching flute to Simonds students. "I really like working with the kids and seeing them be able to play," she says. "It's really fulfilling to teach them."

Pioneer High School senior Deborah Arney, who teaches trombone, is especially pleased with the "demographics" of her class this year, because there are two girls in her class. "We're really happy because trombone is usually dominated by boys," she says.

Arney says she thinks her experience at Simonds will be useful in the teaching career she plans to pursue. "I love working with kids," she says. "It's a lot of fun knowing that I'm helping someone else to learn something."

Arney and fellow trombone teacher Allison Scott, a sophomore at Pioneer, both point out that education in music helps develop other important abilities, particularly analytical skills. "Music can help with better grades in math and science," Scott says.

Of course, such a strong early foundation in music has direct benefits, too. The Simonds band program really "makes a difference" in boosting students' musical abilities, says Sean Sakamoto, a freshman from Pioneer who teaches trumpet. He mentions a current classmate of his who had begun as a music student at Simonds and who is now excelling in band class.

In addition to the advantage of the band providing Simonds students with a good musical education, this unique group of instructors and mentors can teach important lessons that go beyond music. "It's good for everybody, because the older students learn so many leadership skills, and the [Simonds] kids have role models for what we call 'lifelong learners,'" Bermudez says. "The kids can see that learners can be adults and teenagers, that not just elementary kids are learners. Last year, we had two adults who came in as beginner learners and they sat next to the children and they learned an instrument right along with everybody else," recalls Bermudez.

Additionally, there's the sense of community spirit that the band demonstrates. "It's great to teach kids at this age that you can give something back," says Joy Spodick.

It's becoming apparent that that is a lesson well learned by Simonds students. Graduates of the band are now beginning to show up on the other side of the classroom. "The most delightful thing is, now, this year, we have our own [former] students turning around and coming back to help," says Bermudez. "They've been out of the band now for three years and they ask, "Can I come back and be a helper?'"

One such student is Kristin Allmon, now a seventh grader at Castillero Middle School, who plays alto saxophone. "I'm glad I got to be in it," she says of the band. Allmon says she's looking forward to watching the students improve, remembering from her own experiences that "it was hard at first." In addition to helping with the group lesson, Allmon lends some backup to the band. "I really like it when we all play together," she says.

The Simonds School Community Band definitely makes a lasting impression on students—even on those not yet old enough to join. A young boy of about 6, accompanying a volunteer helping with the trombone group, announced as he headed into the classroom, "When I get big, I'm going to have a trombone, too."