Reynolds Middle School eighth grader Sherrod Cotton received a scholarship to study jazz piano with a master teacher.
Cotton is set to take private lessons with Vince di Mura, a pianist, composer, arranger and musical director who currently serves as the resident composer and musical director for the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University.
The $600 scholarship was awarded by Jacobs Music Company and the Greater Princeton Steinway Society. The society hosts its concert series in the Jacobs showroom in Lawrenceville.
Jacobs Music Company CEO Al C. Rinalsi said di Mura’s instruction will help Cotton grow as a musician.
“Sherrod will not only benefit from the jazz techniques he’ll learn this summer, a great teacher can help a student develop his or her musical heart and a greater capacity for musical expression,” Rinaldi said in a statement.
Last summer, Cotton participated in the Westminster Conservatory Jazz Boot Camp, where he learned to perform with a jazz ensemble.
Cotton plays the organ on Sundays in church and serves as accompanist for the Interfaith Tabernacle Mass Choir. He has also played the organ for local funeral services and performs on the synthesizer for his church’s Annual Tent Revival outreach ministry.
At the conclusion of the lessons, Cotton is set to play a piece for the Steinway Society.
The Steinway Society is a piano scholarship organization dedicated to developing the talent of young piano students as future performers. Since its inception in 1989, the society’s annual competitive and developmental scholarships have benefited more than 200 piano students ages seven to 18.
