Discovery in rubble strikes happy chord

June 17, 2007

By John R. Moses

Frontiersman

TALKEETNA - What began as a grim search through the rubble of a charred band room here turned into an almost joyous experience Thursday. Two music teachers and some parent volunteers found and recovered a trove of musical instruments spared by a June 5 blaze that leveled Su Valley Jr./Sr. High School.

&#8220It was a great experience. It was music from the ashes,” said Talkeetna Elementary School music teacher Sandy Shoulders who, with former Su Valley music teacher Jonathan McBride, led a small but hardy band of searchers into what remained of the school's music classroom.

It was also music in the ashes, because the first thing McBride did upon reaching the piano and uncovering the keyboard was to try it out. The group expected the worst and found some of that as well. Mc Bride said much of his former classroom is unrecognizable.

&#8220It was pretty weird. I knew it would be,” he said of his unofficial expedition into a formerly comfortable setting.

Ash, debris and sheet music were among the jumble. &#8220At one point we found the carpet,” he said. Finding the carpet would be a little disorienting in that setting, where feet sink into ash and every step through the debris is a baby step.

Just feet from a completely burned area, the group found a wall behind the pianos containing cubbyholes used to store musical instruments were almost untouched. The cases and instruments had suffered water and smoke damage. Cases with clarinets, brass horns &#8220and the $4,000 tuba” were passed person-to person out of the rubble, McBride said.

Shoulders said an upright piano was located but could be damaged by water. Most miraculously, the school's grand piano escaped apparent fire damage - but not debris. Sheetrock seems to have fallen atop the instrument's cloth cover and shielded it from some of the heat, smoke and water.

&#8220It looks like it was kind of a soft landing,” Mc Bride said. He sat down to play the instrument and &#8220only about half of the keys worked.”

Shoulders noted that a lot of the salvaged instruments were &#8220old and cranky” before the fire.

A couple of choir risers were salvaged, but the school lost its choir robes and the &#8220big, tall, goofy hats” along with any other parts of band uniforms were not to be found, Shoulders said. Some music was found intact.

McBride left his position at the school, a change planned before the school burned. He and his family will move soon from Willow to Washington State. He said a new music teacher will have to build the program up from &#8220ground zero.”

At least with the salvaged instruments, he and Shoulders said, things are looking a little brighter for Su Valley's fall music classes than they did at that time last week.

All was quiet on campus Friday, where school custodian Joseph Wilson cleared debris. Wilson was able to salvage two new pieces of welding equipment from the shop area.