Scott Thomas
Carter

Profile

Master of Music from the Eastman School of Music and fifty years of private studio teaching, continuous since 1975 across western Massachusetts, north-central Connecticut, and Vermont.

Independent researcher in the psychology of music since 1982. Now retired from performance and teaching exclusively, following a forty-year performing career that included principal trombone of the Holyoke Civic Symphony Orchestra, orchestral, chamber, and jazz work across New England and the Midwest, and musical theater as both conductor and actor.

Composer of 61 original works, including the full-length opera HURT and HOPE, with a catalog available on Spotify, iTunes, and other streaming platforms. The majority of students taught have served as principal players in their school, district, and All-State ensembles.

Teaching approach

Instruction is individualized rather than scripted — a phrase inherited from Richard Grunow at Eastman. Students are coached toward their own voice, and toward the whole experience that voice comes out of: what the body is doing, what the inner ear already hears, and what the nervous system will accept in the moment before a phrase is played.

These are trained as one act rather than corrected one at a time. The approach draws on Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory, the psychology of musical behavior, and trauma-informed practice.

Teaching experience

Private Music Instructor — Music & Arts

Burlington, VT · current

• Studio instruction in trombone, trumpet, piano, voice, and composition.

Private Music Instructor — Shiny Penny Productions L3C

1975–present

• Fifty years of continuous private studio teaching in Springfield, Massachusetts; north-central Connecticut; northern Vermont; and Burlington, Vermont.
• Studio established in Burlington, VT, 1996; now operating as Shiny Penny Productions L3C. Instruction across all instruments listed above, all ages and ability levels.
• The majority of students taught have served as principal players in their school, district, and All-State ensembles.
• Students have earned placement in District and All-State ensembles, the New England Music Festival, and regional youth orchestras.
• Extensive experience with students with learning differences and individualized-instruction needs.
• The Third Coordinate — a structured twenty-four or sixteen lesson course in musicianship and expression, taught online; curriculum drafted individually for each student.

Artist in Residence and Brass Instructor — Harwood Union High School

Duxbury, VT · 1997–2010

• Brass instruction integrated with theory, performance preparation, and student composition.

Adjunct Faculty, Humanities — Community College of Vermont

Burlington, VT · 1996–2001

• Designed and taught Music Theory; redesigned and taught Music Appreciation.

Performance — trombone Retired

Orchestral

• Principal Trombone — Holyoke Civic Symphony Orchestra, Holyoke, MA.
• Substitute Trombone — Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Springfield, MA.
• Substitute trombonist for orchestras and jazz ensembles in the Pioneer Valley region and elsewhere.
• Ohio Wesleyan University Symphony Orchestra.

Chamber and ensemble

• The Well-Tempered Brass · Pioneer Valley Brass Quintet.
• Eastman Trombone Choir — Eastman School of Music.
• Ohio Wesleyan University Brass Quintet.

Jazz and wind band

• Pioneer Valley Jazz Ensemble · Ohio Wesleyan University Jazz Band · Ohio Wesleyan University Concert Band.

Musical theater Retired

Music director and conductor

• Brigadoon · Hello, Dolly! · The Wizard of Oz · Finian's Rainbow, and others.

Actor

• Brecht on Brecht · The Fantasticks · The Cradle Will Rock · Working · The Talk of the Town · The Madwoman of Chaillot · The Merchant of Venice · Hello, Dolly! · The Wizard of Oz, and others.
• Companies include Lyric Theatre, Lost Nation Theater, and the Champlain College Players.

Composition

• 61 original works spanning opera, symphonic, chamber, choral, and jazz idioms. Composition continues.
• HURT and HOPE — full-length opera.
• Catalog available on Spotify, iTunes, and other streaming platforms.

Research

• Independent research in the psychology of music, ongoing since 1982 — how students learn, hear, and retain music, and how instruction can be shaped to the individual learner.
• Research informs an individualized studio methodology developed across five decades of teaching.

Education

Master of Music, Music Education — Eastman School of Music

Rochester, NY

• John Van Voorhees Fellowship.
• Mentors: Richard Grunow, John Marcellus, George Osborn, Ronald Barron, Richard Strasburg.

Bachelor of Music — Ohio Wesleyan University

Delaware, OH

Honors

• Who's Who in America — Albert Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, for fifty years of private music instruction; 2022 biographical listing.
• John Van Voorhees Fellowship — Eastman School of Music.

Community and festival involvement

• Discover Jazz Festival · Vermont Mozart Festival · First Night Burlington · Vermont City Marathon · Salvation Army Band.