ZELIENOPLE — Instruments are being used a little differently in Susan Dinger’s elementary music classes this year.

Instead of providing the melodies, the trumpets, guitars, drums and others are forming a conversation piece.

A “man” constructed entirely of instruments graces the alcove in Dinger’s Connoquenessing Valley Elementary School classroom. The sculpture is more than 6 feet tall, according to Dinger.

Students were thrilled with the sculpture, which has been dubbed “The Music Guy,” Dinger said.

“They just walked past with their mouths open,” she said of her students’ first glimpse of the sculpture.

Dinger, who has taught in the Seneca Valley School District for 15 years, said she has always wondered how to decorate the alcove in her classroom.

“I thought it would be cool to have something unique,” she said.

A few years ago, she got an idea.

Dinger enlisted her son-in-law, Brian Badac, an artist, to do a sculpture with the only instruction being “the bigger, the better.”

“She said, ‘Can you make me a man out of these music instruments?’” Badac recalled.

So, the teacher began collecting old instruments, combing yard sales and flea markets, and storing them in a corner of her sun porch.

Badac spent about six months constructing what would be named “The Music Guy,” in the basement of his Butler home, he said.

Dinger was thrilled with the finished project. “My vision that was in my head, he made it a reality,” she said.

Badac said he thought the students’ reactions were “terrific.”

Dinger has only one rule for the sculpture in her classroom.

“The first day in class, I told them ‘Look, don’t touch,’” she said.

About 600 students in grades 1 through 4 pass through Dinger’s classroom. She knew “The Music Guy” would never survive the school year if everyone touched the sculpture.

Principal Deeann Graham said the sculpture “enhances the school community.”

The piece is proving to have “multigenerational” appeal, according to Dinger.

When constructing the sculpture, Badac asked if he could use old record album jackets to form a skirt of an apron for the “man.”

Since the albums were those appropriate for the elementary school setting, Dinger agreed.

The old record albums have drawn the attention of the adults in the building.

“It’s fun how all the adults in the building make comments,” Dinger said. “They say, ‘I love that album’ or ‘I have that album.’”

Graham said “The Music Guy” is allowing the students to see how the bits and pieces of the instruments can be combined to make something new.

“It’s really been engaging,” she said. “It’s getting a lot of conversations going.”

Dinger plans to decorate the statue differently for each holiday or season throughout the school year. She also is planning to have a contest to give “The Music Guy” a name.

As the sculpture was coming together, Dinger thought about the logistics of cleaning the classroom with “The Music Guy” in place.

The sculpture was placed on wheels so it can be moved easily for cleaning or other purposes.

But Graham, for one, hopes “The Music Guy” becomes a permanent part of Connoquenessing Valley Elementary School.

“We want him to nest here for a long time,” she said.