Triton musician making a pitch for old instruments

Oct. 7—DODGE CENTER, Minn. — When Logan Tufte was in grade school and decided to begin learning an instrument, his first choice of instrument was tuba.

However, with few tubas available for novice musicians, his mother and teachers steered him toward trumpet.

"I didn't have a lot of instruments to choose from," Tufte said, adding the trumpet was also the more affordable to rent of the two.

Tufte, a senior at Triton High School in Dodge Center is working to ensure lack of choice doesn't factor as much into future students' instrument choices. For his senior project, Tufte is gathering instruments for the school district's music program.

Since he started the push this semester, he has collected 17 instruments for student use.

After playing trumpet for a while, Tufte later took up the euphonium and then trombone for jazz band.

Eventually, in his last two years of high school, Tufte picked up the tuba. He was able to choose one of the newest instruments.

"My mouth was to the floor," he said. "It was just perfect; I was actually scared to play it the first time."

He hopes other students can pick up the instrument of their choice more easily once the instrument drive is complete.

"We're hoping to build access to instrumentation for our bands," he said, adding that will give bands at various grade levels a wider selection of instruments which will improve performances and encourage more participation.

More instruments also mean more flexibility too, he added.

"It's always difficult when somebody's left an instrument at home, or someone has a broken instrument," he said.

The haul so far includes clarinet, flute, alto sax, trombone, trumpet and percussion pieces. At least one musician has expressed interest in the trombone, he said.

"Our trombone instrumentation is going up after this," Tufte said.

Most of the instruments came during a homecoming week drive that concluded with an event Sept. 29, 2023. Tufte collected nine instruments that day alone.

"I want to give people the opportunity if they don't have their own, they don't need to have their own," he said. "I want them all to be able to have that joy like I did back in fifth grade, learning to play."

People can contact the high school or drop off instruments at the high school office during the day if they want to contribute to the drive.