AMHERST — The town’s renowned middle school string orchestra is set to get a much-needed boost in the form of two new cellos made possible by one student-musician’s generosity.
Dismayed by the poor condition of some of the orchestra’s cellos, eighth-grader Ruthie Page Weinbaum decided to forgo the potential personal windfall at her bat mitzvah this spring. Rather, she asked her friends and family to donate to the Amherst Regional Middle School so it could purchase some new cellos. They did, to the tune of $3,300.
With that, the orchestra is set to purchase two new cellos from Stammell Stringed Instruments, which is providing the instruments at a discount. The availability of school-owned instruments is important so that students of lesser economic means can still participate in musical enrichment, orchestra director Ben Peterson said.
Ruthie, 13, said the move was in line of Jewish tradition of doing something charitable around her bat mitzvah. Plus, she said she’s learned that she’s more gratified by doing good.
“I really hope that everyone can benefit this and more people can play cello regardless of their financial need,” she said.
Amherst is well-known for its orchestra program, said Matt Stamell, who owns the music store. In fact, that’s part of what drew him to the Pioneer Valley and the reason he moved from Wendell to Shutesbury — so his daughter could participate in the public school program.
“People move here to do this,” he said. “Amherst still has the biggest program in the area.”
The program starts early. Each of Amherst’s elementary schools has a string orchestra, led by Heather O’Mara. Then there’s one orchestra per grade at the middle school and two orchestras at the high school, all of which are led by Peterson.
“It has so many positive affects on their learning,” Peterson said. “An orchestra makes a sound that no individual can make — they’re part of something much bigger than themselves when they’re doing that.”
An important part of the orchestra program is its accessibility for low-income students, Peterson said. But sometimes that can be tough.
There’s 14 cellists in the Seventh Grade orchestra, for example, and just six instruments. “Some of these cellos are 50 years old,” he said.
Cellos sell for close to $2,000 each and yearly rentals can run around $500 per student, he said.
In addition to the financial constraints on some families, its just impractical to bring an enormous cello on the bus to and from school, he said.
The new cellos “are going to sound so much better than the instruments that we have,” he said. “The kids will get a better idea of how to produce a good sound, a strong sound. And it will be a much more enjoyable experience to the kids who are playing those cellos.”
Stamell is providing the middle school the two cellos at a discount because “it’s the right thing to do.”
“It’s a tool I have to do something positive in the community,” he said.
Stamell came to the Valley from the Boston area, drawn to Amherst due to its reputation as being the area’s center of the string community, he said. His Amherst shop has been open since 1989.
In addition to the public school orchestras, there’s several private strings teachers in the area, programs in Longmeadow and Frontier Regional Schools and youth orchestras in Amherst, South Hadley, Greenfield and Springfield, Stamell said.
Ruthie said she hopes the school will have leftover money after it purchases the cellos to seed a cello fund.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com