Of The Gleaner

With the help of a Dubuque Racing Association grant, Wahlert band director, Richard Traylor, started a strings program at school this year. The strings program, “has given opportunities to students who already know how to play an instrument to learn a new one, and it also gets students who have stopped playing an instrument a long time ago to start over with something new,” said Mr. Traylor. “Most of all, it is helping the students appreciate the music they are playing.”

According to current strings’ program member, Kaitlyn Moran, ‘19, “There are about six or seven members in the program, including Mr. Traylor.” The program began in March, and it is a three-year program, so anyone who wants to participate in it can join.

“The main goal of the program is to educate people about string instruments and to introduce them to something new,” Sam Sykes, ‘19, said.

In the beginning, it was just an idea until students began to join.

“So far it’s going pretty good since we’re playing that new instrument for the first time,” Moran said.

Now that the program has officially begun to develop, it will continue to grow as more students become involved.

Because there were a lot of strings’ players in the band, Mr. Traylor was inspired to start the strings’ program, to expand the number of students playing string instruments, and to help them to play more instruments in the future.

“Learning a new instrument is always good because it expands our musical horizon, and it is also a good educational experience,” Moran said.