Lower School Music Restoration Project Continues

Many hands contribute to the Poly experience, a statement true of the Lower School Instrumental Program. What started as a pandemic project has become a labor of love for Music Instructor Cheryl Scheidemantle and her parents. Now in their fourth year of restoring instruments, Patty and Don Range, parents of Cheryl and grandparents of alums Sara ’13, Kaela ’15, and Luke ’17, work over the summer to restore four to five dozen string instruments in their South Bay home. 

 

Poly’s set of instruments can experience lots of wear and tear, from being shuttled back and forth at school to the normal use of young musicians. Patty and Don have no professional experience as “luthiers”—a craftsperson who makes and repairs stringed instruments—yet their lifetimes of handiwork around the house make them the perfect craftspeople.

 

This summer, they spent 13 weeks on the project, from when school ended until the last two string basses and cellos were delivered the first week of school. The couple’s home turns into a workshop with projects such as furnishing a case with a new zipper or fixing chipped wood on an instrument. They use tools like epoxy, sandpaper, and varnish to make the instruments like new.

 

We are so grateful to Patty and Don for their support of music education for our youngest students, and we hope it is a Poly tradition that will continue for years to come!