On Friday, October 1, 2010 Glenville State College students Catisha Scavairello (senior, Lynn, West Virginia), Ryan Deems (senior, Bridgeport, West Virginia), Chris Baber (senior, Craigsville, West Virginia), and Stephen Bailey (sophomore, Duck, West Virginia) presented an ‘Instrument Petting Zoo’ to students at the Arnoldsburg Elementary School in Calhoun County, West Virginia. GSC Assistant Professor of Music and Fine Arts Department Chair Lloyd Bone also accompanied the group. Scavairello demonstrated the trumpet and the horn, Deems demonstrated the baritone and the euphonium, Baber demonstrated the tuba, Bailey demonstrated the clarinet, saxophone and oboe, and Bone demonstrated the trombone.

This project was put together by GSC student intern Stephanie Sumner (senior, Glenville, West Virginia), who just completed her first placement at Arnoldsburg Elementary School under the supervision of John Bugby, the school’s music teacher and GSC alum. Sumner designed the project so the GSC students first introduced each instrument and then every student was able to play at least once on all of the instruments. This is not an easy endeavor as stated by Professor Bone, “Setting up an instrument petting zoo where hundreds of elementary school students have an opportunity to play on each instrument is very challenging. The students are practically jumping out of their skin to play the instruments so many discipline and organizational challenges come into play. However, Stephanie had the entire project so incredibly organized that there were no behavior issues and every student got to play all of the instruments multiple times. I was also very impressed with our students giving the presentations as they worked with the students.”

Each instrument or group of instruments had a ‘station’ where the students would hear a small presentation about the instrument and how it sounds, instructed how to hold the instrument, and how to produce a basic sound on the instrument. The students received one-on-one instruction and were given multiple attempts to produce sounds on the instrument. They were also had a chance to ask questions and receive feedback.

The elementary students had an incredible day. Many of them were very excited and raved about the whole experience. Senior music education major Ryan Deems said, “I really enjoyed going to Arnoldsburg and being able to share the instruments with students. I thought it was very well organized and that Stephanie Sumner did a great job teaching the students about the instruments before we arrived.

“Stephanie’s wonderful work on this project reflected how Glenville State College is producing wonderful young educators. After seeing her in action, there is no doubt that she will be an excellent teacher,” said Professor Bone.