Some people call it a double bass, a contrabass or even a bull fiddle, but Maddie Moll can only call her bass one thing: broken.

“I do not know exactly how it happened,” Moll, senior, said. “It was a really old bass that was donated to [the orchestra], and it always had big seams that were open.”
Moll said that small damages like this are expected in an older bass, and they are caused by the wood of the bass warping or changing over time. These damages do not have a critical impact on the bass’s sound.

Moll said this year, however, the bass was subject to more severe damages caused by vandalization.

“[My first reaction] was ‘why would somebody do this?’,” Moll said when she saw the three inch by six inch hole in the instrument. “Bass and cello players normally use the school instruments for class rehearsal, but now I have to bring my own bass to school every day, which is kind of a pain.”

As unfortunate as these damages are, they seem even worse once the uniqueness of the instrument is understood.

“The bass was made in 1880-something,” Patrick Jackson, orchestra director, said. “I taught a student back in 1998 in the Parkway District. Then in either 2003, ’04 or ’05, I was contacted by the family and was told that the student still had the bass but was no longer playing it and wanted me to have it.”

Jackson said he then donated the bass to the orchestra. He also said even though the bass is old, it would not crack if it fell, and the damage would have had to have been done by a person.

According to Jackson, the repair is very complicated and is being payed for by the district. Jackson also said this is not the first time he has found an orchestra instrument that has been vandalized.

“Earlier this year, there was a cello in the band room with a hole put in it about as wide as your thumb. That [repair cost] came out of our orchestra budget,” Jackson said.

Andie Barnett, sophomore, works at St. Louis Strings Violin Shop, where the bass currently resides and where the orchestra sends most of its instruments for repair, so she is able to see instruments from several different schools come into the shop for repairs.

“I have never seen anything like this. Basses and cellos usually come in for general repair, but I have not ever seen damage to an instrument as purposeful or intentional as this one,” Barnett said.

Barnett also said that the incident had an impact on the entire orchestra, making students fear the same thing may happen to their instruments.

“[The vandalization] scared a lot of people, because they are wondering if it is safe to keep their instruments at school,” Barnett said.

Jackson, Barnett and Moll all said since the occurrence, the instrument storage area in the orchestra room is constantly locked. Students needing to get an instrument from storage must be supervised by a teacher.

“People need to know how serious the problem is, and how the damage the student did to it was so detrimental. It is really a shame that this had to happen to such a great instrument,” Barnett said.