79-year-old flute player joins elementary school band

The Kennedy Elementary School in Dubuque, Iowa has added a little experience to their school band.

That's because 79-year-old Tony Boland has joined the band's woodwind section.

Boland has volunteered at the school for over a decade, helping fifth-graders with reading music, something he struggled with as a youth. He started volunteering when his grandchildren attended the school.

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When it came time to throw away his daughter's flute, he started playing it instead. And where better to quickly learn how to play than by joining a band?

"When you play alone, it's not as fast when you're playing in a band," Boland told the Telegraph Herald. So instead of instructing the kids, he joined them.

And band director Brian Enabnit couldn't be happier.

"He's great," Enabnit said. "He's encouraging to the students around him."

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Boland now practices with the students every week, and has even performed with them at the Dubuque Community District's Band Festival earlier this month.

Fellow fifth-grade bandmate Courtney Less has welcomed the savvy septuagenarian's skills.

"He's kind of a more experienced player," she said. "All of us are messing up, but he doesn't."

(Photo courtesy AP Canada)