Violinist receives graduate award

Senior Jenna Sherry, a violin performance major in the Jacobs School of Music, was named by the British government as one of 37 young scholars to win the 2008 Marshall Scholarship last November. \nThe scholarship covers all expenses for Sherry’s two-year education at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Sherry said she chose Guildhall because she wanted to study with David Takeno, the Eugene Ysaye International Chair of Violin, and to facilitate her own artistic growth. \nWinners are chosen by a committee in Washington, D.C., chaired by the British ambassador and the chairman of the British Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission. The scholarship program commemorates the Marshall Plan, which helped Western European countries rebuild after World War II. Distinguished American students are encouraged to study in the U.K.\nSherry’s advisors suggested she apply for the Marshall Scholarship to fund her graduate studies. \n“Jenna is a very accomplished violinist, and what sets her apart is that she’s an unusually mature person,” said Mark Kaplan, professor of music and Sherry’s violin instructor. “She incorporates lots of knowledge into her playing. (When I first met her), I was very impressed with her as a self-possessed and articulate person.”\nPart of the process required Sherry to get faculty nominations, including one from IU President Michael McRobbie. \n“At first I didn’t think I would get it,” Sherry said. “It is an incredible scholarship, and I definitely wanted to study in a music conservatory. When I found out I got it, I was really shocked.” \nSherry said she began showing an interest in playing a violin at age 5. She grew up around the fiddling of her musician parents in Louisiana. \nAfter studying classical violin with several instructors, she came to study at the IU Jacobs School of Music as the first home-schooled freshman to receive the Wells Scholarship.\nSherry said she isn’t a stereotypical performance major. She said she does spend a lot of time in a practice room, but to her, that is no different than an athlete training or a biology student studying anatomy.\n“Practicing is meditative for me,” Sherry said. “I am a fairly intense person, and when I set my mind on something, I focus everything on it.”\nSherry said she has a wide range of musical tastes and is fascinated with the relationship between music \nand psychology.\n“I am a New Orleans girl, so I really like Dixieland Jazz and Gypsy Jazz,” Sherry said. “I also have a great interest in areas where music and other things intersect, like music and how it affects the brain cognitively, psychologically (and) physiologically.”\nSherry said her years in the Jacobs School of Music have been busy. Along with classes and practicing, she has had to balance performances and chamber music obligations. \nShe said chamber music has been particularly important to her because it offered her a chance to work with inspirational people. \n“Working closely and intensely in ensembles with people older than me, at higher levels or at my level has been really important,” Sherry said.\nSherry said she hopes to continue to focus on chamber music in London, and is excited about the opportunities she will have studying abroad. \n“I look forward to collaborating with other musicians and expanding my world,” Sherry said. “(London) is a very rich and active place for art and music. I will get to see performers there that I wouldn’t get to see otherwise.”