A mentor to me is anyone who has your trust and who has advised you on something important to you. There are hundreds of mentors I have had in my time here at Eastman, from deans, to professors, to staff members, to community members, to fellow students.
First is my teacher, Jim Thompson. I have quite simply never heard a better trumpet player. Sure, there are the great virtuosos of the world who can seemingly do anything with a horn in their hands, but Jim Thompson has a character in his playing that is unmatched. He has taught me, more than anything else, how to approach a task with diligence, mental endurance, and focus. The concepts bestowed in lessons aren’t simply limited to the trumpet but to anything you want to do well. If you learn the way “JT “ teaches you to learn, you can do anything you want extremely well.
Second are my rotation professors, who include Mark Davis Scatterday and Neil Varon. They have both always demanded the greatest playing and would continuously call you out in rehearsal if they thought they weren’t getting it. It has made me a better player and person collaborating with these men. If you apply the same diligence and artistry to what you do in your own life, you will be successful in anything. In particular, I’d like to thank Professor Scatterday for supporting my trumpet ensemble both personally and financially, helping grow the chamber rep for five trumpets.
Next are Kellie Leigh, Linda Muise (the current and former Assistant Dean for Residential Life), and Kathy Goodman (Administrative Assistant to the Dean of Residential life). Students are obviously drawn to Eastman because of its history as a top music school. It is a world-renowned place to hone an important craft, filled to the brink with incredible professors who are the best in the world in some cases, but we forget that we spend a lot of our time at home, in our dorms, in our halls, among our peers. The environment created by those who work in residential life is of paramount importance. Linda Muise, Kellie Leigh, and Kathy Goodman have been incredible resources to me and hundreds of others. Their huge contribution to our school should not go unnoticed.
The Arts and Leadership Program (ALP) of the Institute for Music Leadership is another incredible resource that Eastman is unique in offering. Through the gracious help of the ALP’s Leslie Scatterday I have been able to work in the Eastman Communications Office under the auspices of Helene Snihur, Olga Malavet, Karen Ver Steeg, and David Raymond. Getting to work with them has not only taught me how much the staff loves the students here at Eastman, but also has rekindled my love for writing. Through the ALP and the Communications Office, I have come to appreciate more than anything else the various facets at work at Eastman School which help the students thrive.
There are so many others I could name, including my theory professors, and the jazz department who adopted me into their bands for a couple of years. There are hundreds of people who work at making the Eastman community a great place. In my case, as in I think most others, it takes a village — and what a great one we have here!
Andrew Psarris ‘15