Bloomington Symphony Orchestra’s Children’s Instrument Recovery Program has taken away that burden for some students’ families for about 20 years. Thanks to donations of instruments as well as individuals’ time and money, they’re able to provide more than 100 loaners for beginner musicians for free. More than half of those are currently in the hands of students.

Instruments donated to ChIRP often require repairs before they’re passed on to young musicians. String instruments are turned over to Lucas Nelson Marvell at Bloomington String Instruments, where he repairs them in his shop to give them a new life. The local luthier (stringed instrument maker) first evaluates each one to see if it’s worth repairing.

“They get a lot of donations, but most times the instruments have a lot of work that needs to be done,” Marvell said. With string instruments, repairs could include re-hairing bows, carving new bridges or repairing cracks and seams. He became involved with the program because he wanted to contribute to fostering a love of music and help students make art — and give them a chance to do so with the right equipment. Otherwise, he said, “kids are going to get real frustrated, real fast. … Kids can’t do this with a $50 or $100 Walmart fiddle.”

When Marvell started helping with ChIRP, he wanted to ensure that the loaner instruments were getting quality care from a skilled luthier, instead of being overcharged or getting shoddy work. “Especially with nonprofits, I can’t let them overpay,” he said, and that’s why he does the repairs at cost and donates the labor.

This year, he had some assistance preparing ChIRP violins. Madison Roze initially moved to Bloomington to study stringed instrument repair, but after a retirement at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, string instrument technology courses are not currently being offered. (According to school officials, string technology courses are planned to resume in 2020.)

Still hoping to go into the field, Roze went to Marvell’s shop to learn from a professional. Roze isn’t a violinist himself, but he grew up with musician parents, and he remembers there always being one acoustic instrument or another lying around. He became interested in how they worked and the technical aspects that come together to create the perfect sound.

“That really appeals to me as something I want to do for my career,” he said. And he liked volunteering to help with the ChIRP program as a way to give musical opportunities to more students. “It’s interesting work on its own, but it’s also important to make that kind of stuff accessible to people,” he said.

Marvell said even if a student isn’t pursuing music as a career, to get the benefits of music education, having an instrument in good shape is key. “They’re at a stage when if they have early failures because the instrument is not performing the way it’s supposed to, they’re going to for sure drop it,” Marvell said.

Some might drop it anyway; a career in music isn’t always the goal. But one student who’s received a loan from the ChIRP program, Hannah Kabrick, is serious about pursuing music. She’s participated in the year-round String Academy program at IU’s Jacobs School of Music since her freshman year.

Kabrick is home-schooled, although she tried public school in seventh grade. She went back to learning at home so she could have a more flexible schedule that gives her more time to practice her violin. Up until seventh grade, she was using a smaller instrument built for children. If she was going to move forward, she needed a bigger violin.

“A lot of times rentals, unless you’re getting it from a very good luthier, they’re not very good quality,” she said. “And to rent a violin from a luthier can be very expensive.”

So she started playing on a violin loaned to her by the ChIRP program, allowing her family to save some money and allowing her to decide how serious she wanted to be about playing music. Now in her senior year, she’s still playing.

“Having a good quality instrument means that the sound of the instrument, just by how it’s made, is a lot better,” Kabrick said. “So when you’re a little kid and you’re still kind of sawing way at it, it’s a little more forgiving, and it helps you be able to develop an ear for a good sound and musical sensitivity that you might have to work harder at otherwise.”

After benefiting from the kindness of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra and Marvell’s shop, Kabrick is now passing on her love of music to the next generation. The high school senior works with young students at Fairview Elementary School through a collaborative program with the Jacobs School.

“Those younger kids that are just starting out — it’s just an amazing thing to see how excited they are to learn,” she said.

Children in Bloomington and surrounding areas younger than 18 who are either enrolled in a school music program or signed up for private lessons may be eligible to borrow an instrument for a one-year period through ChIRP. Find out more at bloomingtonsymphony.com/outreach.chirp.