An eruption of shrill squeaks filled the library at University Park Elementary School for several seconds until the band conductor motioned for his students to stop.

The students put down mouthpieces from clarinets, flutes, saxophones and trumpets, and smiled at the sudden burst of noise they had just made.

"Every sound we make is based on the mouthpiece," said band teacher Toby Clouser. "If you're making a good sound, it means you're doing the right thing on the mouthpiece. If you're making a not so good sound, it means you're doing things not so right on the mouthpiece."

Many fifth-graders across Natrona County are picking up instruments for the first time this year, beginning their introduction to the language of music.

Band and strings are offered to all fifth-graders, as is general music.The school district's six instrumental music teachers travel in teams, covering seven or eight schools per pair.

Choosing which to take is personal for most students. Maybe an older brother or sister played the trumpet, or a cousin took up the violin in elementary school.

"I liked the sound of them," said Zack Kearns, a fifth-grader at Woods Learning Center who chose the viola. "I just wanted to make that sound, be able to do that."

A study conducted in 2006 by The College Board found that SAT takers with music coursework or experience scored 57 points higher on the verbal portion of the test and 43 points higher on the math portion than students with no coursework or experience in music.

"We always feel like we add to the academic subjects," said Kim Skatula, the school district's co-coordinator for elementary music. "We focus on history with composers, and we do math with rhythm."

At University Park Elementary, offering band and strings is a chance for students to explore music, said Principal Sally Huber. The school traditionally has a high level of poverty.

"For some of our students, this is an opportunity that they probably wouldn't have," Huber said. "Our biggest challenge is finding a big enough space."

Huber said students of all varieties take up instruments come fifth grade. Maybe they're the brightest students in their grade, or maybe they have difficulty paying attention until band class.

"I just think the students enjoy it," Huber said.

Learning to play a stringed instrument is a step-by-step process, said Sue Salz, a strings teacher in Natrona County. In their second week of strings instruction, fifth-graders at Evansville learned the proper way to hold their instrument bows by holding a pencil.

"You have to go by small steps," Salz said. "We start on pencils because it's much easier than handing them a bow."

With fingers crooked to create a peephole in the hand and pinkies carefully arched, Salz inspected each student's grip before deeming it just right for playing an instrument.

Some classes move faster than others, though. Only two students chose strings at Woods Learning Center, so Salz has been quicker to move them into playing.

With bows properly positioned, the boys tucked their violas under their chins. The sound squeaked and then mellowed as they carefully slid bows over the strings and played music for the first time.

"Not bad," Salz said. "You didn't sound like a dying chicken."

The boys giggled to themselves and smiled at the compliment.

Learning an instrument can be challenging, but practice and encouragement ease the sting of frustration, Salz said.

"Parents need to be involved in their child's education, be it music, or be it sports, or be it whatever," she said. "Parent involvement is as important as my involvement almost."

Skatula said teaching the "whole child" means teaching academics as well as the arts and other subjects, giving them a lifelong skill and love for music. Skatula herself still plays the flute, her choice of instrument in the fifth grade.

"It's very important for a kid to be able to create and show emotion and express themselves in a way they may not be able to in a regular classroom," she said.

Reach education reporter Jasa Santos at (307) 266-0593 or at Jasa.Santos@trib.com.