Some of the instruments in the tiny middle school band are rusted and squeaky.

There are instruments that smell funny and others that taste funny. Some of the saxophones have holes where there shouldn't be holes, and none of the oboes work. Neither do the bassoons.

And for a while last fall, there were so few mouthpieces for the brass instruments that students had to share them.

None of that matters to first-year teacher Kerri Tenno and her band students at Lana'i High and Elementary School. Many of the students are just as green to music as Tenno is to teaching, but together they've brought the sound of music back to Lana'i City.

It's exhilarating for the small community. For the last decade, it had watched a beloved band program shrink to almost nothing.

"During open house week, I remember parents saying, 'It's so nice to hear music in our house again,' " said Tenno, who was hired right out of college last summer to split her teaching time between music and physical education.

"The community has been wanting music for a while," she said. "They used to have really good bands here. I am not sure what happened. So we are starting from the beginning, with the instruments the kids had before. And the kids are enjoying it."

Even though their repertoire is comprised mostly of nursery rhymes, the students perform with an infectious enthusiasm.

BOOST FROM CMH

When musicians with Chamber Music Hawai'i visited the school last September, they were so moved by what they found that they came home and solicited donations during a concert. They raised $700.

"Because Lana'i is so isolated, Kerri doesn't have the advantages of being in Honolulu and availing herself of repair work and supplies and the networking of band teachers," said Scott Janusch, an oboe player who serves as the chamber's education coordinator. "And we all remember the program they had years ago. It was wonderful."

Chamber Music Hawai'i members asked their fellow musicians to donate instruments.

When they spread the word about the mouthpieces, Niu Valley Intermediate band teacher Wayne Fanning loaned them 20.

Now, CMH is trying to arrange for one of its viola players — who is also a commercial pilot — to fly to Lana'i so he can fetch instruments that need repairs.

"What we found on Lana'i was a little bit disturbing, but hopeful," said Jonathan Parrish, a French horn player and Chamber Music Hawai'i's general manager. "I am hopeful that we can find three or four ways to help, and not just send her a check. She needs repairs and she needs some support and some help."

A MUSIC MAJOR

Tenno is well-versed in the value of music in education. She played French horn at St. Andrew's Priory and liked it so much that she majored in music education at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.

After graduation last spring, the 23-year-old Tenno wasn't sure what she was going to do — until a surprise job offer in July took her, and her fiance, to Lana'i. They fell in love with the island and its community.

"Every night, it makes us laugh at how fantasy-like it is to live on Lana'i," Tenno said. "We watch the news, but the traffic isn't here. The crime isn't here. People still leave their cars unlocked — and you can, because who would steal your car? Everybody knows everybody, basically."

She teaches 70 students in three classes. There is a core group of 12 students who are so hungry for more music, they are always practicing.

"They come in during lunch or after school," Tenno said. "They eat up all my free time. I come in at 7:30 a.m., and they are waiting for me. It's exciting. I feel really good when I see them."

But some days, she can't escape the fact that they are young.

"When they get to class, some of them have to act cool and pretend not to be that into it," said Tenno, who grew up in Palolo. "In middle school, you have to pretend you don't care."

TRADITION STILL ALIVE

Tenno's students are part of a music renaissance on Lana'i, which is home to about 3,100 people.

Although it had bands that traveled and won awards as far back as the 1960s, interest in music began to dwindle in 2000. By the end of the last school year, the high school band was long gone and there were about five middle school students in band classes, said Pierce Myers, principal of the school and a former band teacher there as well.

The band experience was powerful. "A lot of those folks are still on Lana'i, and that is often the topic of conversation," Myers said.

Tenno is reviving that tradition, he said. "She is not afraid to work very, very hard," the principal said. "And she is a very engaging woman. Kids really identify with her."

Tenno is the school's main music teacher, but the school started a drum line last year that has become quite popular. It performs in parades on Lana'i and was featured at the school's recent homecoming festivities.

The music doesn't stop at the edge of campus. Some of Tenno's students are playing at home with their parents, and there is talk of forming a community band.

"Sometimes I wish there was someone more qualified in my spot, because there are so many opportunities here — like a summer band or an after-school community band of adults who played 20 years ago, who now have kids in the band," she said. "There is lots of potential here."

The responsibility can make her nervous. Or is it the thrill of discovery?

"There are hidden musicians who are now starting to come out and play more," she said. "I think it's something they haven't had for such a long time that it's a surprise for the parents and the kids."