Parents Raise $15,000 to Save Music Classes : Budget: Organizers are appealing to the public to meet the second half of their $30,000 goal by the end of November.

Parents trying to protect the school district’s elementary music program from budget cuts announced last week that they have raised half of their $30,000 goal.

Organizers of the campaign, Music in Motion, said several community groups and PTAs contributed the first $15,000.

The fund drive opened Friday with a press conference, a student recital and an appeal to the public to help raise the rest.

In the district’s first budget, adopted in June, the Board of Education scaled back the program by $41,000. The plan would have meant laying off two of the district’s four music instructors, who teach in 19 elementary schools.

When parents learned of the cut, part of $6.3 million made by the board, they decided to try to salvage the program. They persuaded the board to retain all four music instructors and pledged to raise $30,000 by the end of November to help pay their salaries. School officials hope to make up the difference by renting instruments to students.

“We understood that the board had a difficult budget situation,” said Nancy Russell, spokeswoman for Music in Motion. “We came to the board meeting en masse last June to work with them.”

During the press conference at the district’s administrative center, several of the 1,500 elementary students involved in the music program performed.

Cellist Brian Ostro, a sixth-grader at Monte Vista Elementary, played “Humoresque” by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, and three student violinists played selections by Italian, Austrian and Armenian composers.

“I want to make music part of my life,” Brian said. “It brings enjoyment. It also makes me feel powerful. That’s why I play the cello. I’m small, so I need something big.”

The Glendale instrumental music program was founded in 1972. Each school has its own orchestra, ranging from 15 to 100 players. Classes are open to students in grades four through six.

A districtwide orchestra and a band, involving the top 250 musicians, perform in community concerts each year.

“It’s a lot more fun than sports,” said violinist Varuzhan Shahidzadeh, a sixth-grader at R. D. White School. “In sports, there is a lot of competition. In music, you don’t win or lose.”

Anyone wishing to make a contribution should make checks payable to the Glendale Unified School District Music in Motion at GUSD, Board of Education Building, 223 N. Jackson Street, Glendale 91206.