The marimbas of Cottonwood’s Prairie Junior High School provided some melodic moments during the 2003 Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival on the University of Idaho campus.

Prairie Junior High music teacher Laurie Karel’s students not only played the marimbas, wooden instruments of African origin, they also made them. UI Extension helped provide the funding through the Craig-Wyden Act, which funds educational programs using wood products.

Above: Marimbas built in Cottonwood make music at UI jazz festival. Photo by Geoff Crimmins.

UI-Clearwater County Extension Educator Randy Brooks and the Idaho County Centers for Discovery program, which also received UI Extension support, worked together to provide the $2,500 for the project.

Cottonwood’s Karel proposed the project, and with the help of her husband, Dan, worked with students to complete three marimbas.

The Prairie Junior High and Elementary School students crafted African paduke and Brazilian cherrywood into three complete marimbas that are used every school day. Another marimba is nearly complete.

Her students, who range from kindergarteners to Prairie High School Choir members, play the marimbas enthusiastically, she said. “They love them. It’s like, ‘Can I play? Can I play?’ I’ve had as many as 15 students lined up playing them at the same time.”

Photo by Laurie Karel.

The project involved more than making music. Students worked with their parents, the Karels, and other adults to build the instruments. “We probably had a hundred kids who worked on measuring the wood, or working out the math, or actually drilling or sanding the wood,” she said. Many more have played them since.

The marimbas will continue to make music for years to come in the Prairie schools and in competitions.