Music student pianist awarded Marshall Scholarship

The piano notes that flow from Scott MacIntyre’s fingers tell the story of a young man whose passion for life overrides all obstacles. At 19 years old, Scott has performed all over the United States and Canada, composes and sings his own music, plays guitar and drums. Yet he has been virtually blind since birth.

He is also the winner of a 2005 Marshall Scholarship, among the most prestigious awards for graduate study in the world. Scott is the latest in a string of 12 Arizona State University students who have won Marshalls in the last 13 years. Only 40 are named each year.

Scott will graduate from ASU in May with a degree in piano performance before beginning graduate studies at Britain’s Cambridge University and the Royal College of Music. The Marshall Scholarship provides full funding for two years, amounting to approximately $60,000.

Born with only two degrees of tunnel vision – as if he sees the world through a tiny straw – Scott started playing the piano by ear at age 3 and began his classical training at age 5. He can read sheet music note by note, and memorize it one hand at a time.

At 14, Scott was accepted into the ASU Barrett Honors College and the Herberger College of Fine Arts. He made his orchestral debut at 15, performing as guest piano soloist with the Phoenix Symphony to a standing-room only audience of more than 2,000.

A true prodigy, he has performed with the Phoenix Symphony six times, won a number of top competitions and studied on full scholarship at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada, Tanglewood Institute at Boston University and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. He has produced five CDs, the first when he was only 11.

“Scott is an amazing young man, very articulate, focused and accomplished, and he has performed a hundreds of charity concerts all over the United States,” says Janet Burke, associate dean of the Barrett Honors College. “Yet he’s a very normal individual who likes to try all kinds of different things.”

He swims, hikes and skis – with a sighted guide in front of him – and teaches salsa, swing and ballroom dancing. He performs in live drama and musical theatre, gives motivational speeches, and has won debate honors as a YMCA student senator. Since the age of 11, he has created his own computer games.

The tall, blue-eyed young man uses a cane to navigate around the ASU campus with confidence, and studies textbooks with the aid of computer scanners, tape recordings and magnifying glasses. Walter Cosand, ASU professor of piano performance who has worked with Scott since he was 14, says he was initially reluctant to work with such a young student.

“I remember how astonishing his ability to learn and perform new music proved to be,” says Cosand. “I have been teaching talented pianists for 28 years. Scott may be the most promising performer I have ever taught. One would call his playing effortless, but for the knowledge that it is the result of great diligence over most of his life.

“Scott has great energy, enthusiasm and confidence. He is never arrogant, although that might perhaps be a forgivable trait in one so obviously gifted and admired by the many people around him.”

Scott calls the faculty at ASU “amazing,” and says he wouldn’t trade his years on campus for anything: “I’ve had a wonderful experience here. The professors really connect with the students.”

Home-schooled along with two younger siblings by his mother, Scott composes and plays rock and Christian pop music, and has performed live for the Crystal Cathedral in California and Scottsdale Bible Church. He has done hundreds of fund-raising concerts for such groups as Ronald McDonald Charities, the Braille Institute and the Mayo Clinic.

“Scott’s attitude about life is so positive,” says his mother, Carole MacIntyre. “He tackles whatever life throws at him. It will be a challenge for him living in England, but he has a great ability to solve problems. I have confidence he’ll do well and succeed.”

More information on Scott and his music is available on his Web site, http://www.scottmacintyre.com.

(Article by Sarah Auffret reprinted with permission from December 10, 2004, issue of ASU Insight)