Tyner tuba player Miracle Chappell, 16, reads sheet music during practice with fellow band members outside Tyner Middle Academy. Chappell uses electrical tape to secure parts of her instrument together in the marching band. “Chappell is a musician,” band director Elias Smith said. “She just switched to tuba from clarinet in June, and picked it right up.”Get involvedTyner Academy band will accept band instruments, or checks can be submitted to Tyner Pride Band, c/o Band Director Elias Smith, Tyner Academy, 6836 Tyner Road, Chattanooga, TN 37421
Miracle Chappelle got promoted to play tuba in Tyner Academy’s marching band.
“She’s a great musician,” band director Elias Smith said of the 11th-grade girl who played clarinet in middle school and trombone until this summer, when Smith saw her potential for the big brass instrument.
“You can spot a student who’s a true musician,” Smith said. “She can play whatever you put in her hands.”
Trouble is, the decades-old, battered tuba that Chappelle plays is held together with black electrical tape.