Then & Now
Katherine then & now
Katherine Scahill is spending her summer as a counselor at the NMS’s Audubon Arts program. She is one of more than a dozen alumni working as summer staff members in 2010.
A former student of Fiona Murray, Miriam Eckelhoeffer, Jody Rowitsch and Elizabeth Adams, Katherine studied the violin at NMS beginning at age 12 and continued through high school. In addition to private study, Katherine participated in a variety of ensembles, including quartets and the Greater New Haven Youth Symphony Orchestra. Katherine is now a student at Wesleyan University.
While she is not sure if music will be her profession, Katherine believes that her lessons at NMS taught her more than just technique and repertoire. “I learned a great deal about the importance of personal practice,” Katherine notes. “I also learned a lot about working with others.” Among many fond memories of her time as an NMS student, one particular experience stands out to Katherine. “I remember putting together a full concert with my quartet during my junior year in high school. It was rewarding because the four of us worked hard together and played two full quartets for our parents and friends. This type of project could not have been possible without the expertise of NMS faculty and the staff’s commitment to helping us plan and schedule a performance.”
Anna & Jacob then & now
Every week at Anna Zonderman’s piano lesson at NMS, her teacher, Michelle Zingale, asked the 6-year-old’s brother Jacob Zonderman, then 3, if he wanted to take piano lessons as well. “Maybe,” Jacob said, but he was too busy tapping his feet to give it any more thought. At the age of 3, Anna had already announced, “I want to take piano lessons” but Jacob had much more fun banging on pots and pans. At age 7, he began drum set lessons with Nick Forte.
By the time they graduated from high school, the siblings had been involved in an array of NMS programs. In addition to classical piano, Anna played piano duets, dabbled in flute and viola and participated in Audubon Arts program for six years, starring as Wendy in Peter Pan in 2003. Jacob mastered percussion, from jazz to classical to African drumming, participating in ensembles as diverse as the Greater New Haven Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Premier Jazz Ensemble. Anna and Jacob consider their experience at NMS to be a driving force in their lives. “We were so lucky to have so many great teachers and mentors at NMS,” Jacob notes. “We learned the commitment, discipline and passion necessary to excel as musicians,” Anna continues. “But beyond that, we learned that these principles apply far beyond the practice of instruments.”
Jacob is entering his sophomore year as a music major at Western Connecticut State University (WCSU), performing in both jazz and classical ensembles. This summer he served as a mentor at Summer Band program for the third year and played in the pit orchestra for the Audubon Arts production of Bye Bye Birdie. Anna, who sang in the Elm City Girls’ Choir for eleven years, continued to pursue vocal music avidly at Clark University, from which graduated in May with a major in International Development and Social Change. She was a member of four eclectic ensembles, directing two of them in her senior year. This summer, she has joined the NMS staff to assist in the development of the alumni network.
While Jacob intends to pursue music professionally, Anna will begin a Master’s in public health at Yale University this fall. Although music will play very different roles in the siblings’ lives going forward, the two agree, “NMS will always own a piece of our souls!”
