Name: Brook Schmid
Age: 9
School: JFK/Hansen
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Key to Awesomeness: Openness and engagement.
Accomplishments: Brook Schmid turns ten this week, and with only one school year of cello lessons, she participated in the advanced strings group at for two weeks in July.
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The cello’s deep sound sparked her interest, and Brook learned classical orchestra pieces at John F. Kennedy Elementary this past school year.
“I improved a lot,” she said. “I did not know how to hold a bow.”
Learning new notes, finger positions, and two new styles of music–jazz and fiddle–deepened Brook’s love and appreciation for her instrument. Improvisational work opened the door into the non-verbal magic that happens between collaborating musicians.
The “pass it on” game was her favorite. Looking the other musician in the eyes and feeling the music, passing it on was like a question and answer connection, she said.
They capped off the with a concert at Canton High School on July 28. Performing for an audience of roughly 100 people, Brook’s Orchestra group played with the Band–including her clarinetist brother. The five-piece orchestra allowed each player and instrument to really be heard.
This gifted cellist loves reading long books because they have more “story.” Fiction is her preference with Christopher Paolini’s Eragon and Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George being standouts.
A softball player since kindergarten, Brook played Park District this year and plans to participate in travel softball and travel basketball when she enters fifth grade at Hansen Elementary this fall.
Skiing Attitash and visiting Cape Cod were some highlights, as she continues to explore her new home. Moving to Canton with her family from Illinois last year, Brook is already a world traveler.
Born in California, she has been to most U.S. states, all around Europe, the Bahamas, Switzerland, Tahiti and Thailand.
As her experiences and accomplishments shape her young life–there is big promise that she will significantly shape the world as she grows older.
