At age 14, violinist Eleanor Markey has spent nearly half of her life as a member of NEC's Preparatory School. Each Saturday she joins more than 1,600 young students from all over New England who venture into Boston for classes, lessons, rehearsals, and FUN!
Eleanor has explored the gamut of NEC's offerings, including theory classes, private lessons, Youth Symphony and Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. She credits her group experiences at Prep with not just helping her develop as a musician, but also inspiring her to practice.
"I'll sit there and listen to my group mates thinking, 'Oh my gosh, they're so good! I don't want to drag the group down! I need to practice!'" While it's true that Prep students at Eleanor's level hold themselves to an extremely high artistic level, she emphasizes that playing together is also about learning how to support other musicians, and forming close bonds.
"It's in these group settings that I have found some of my best friends in the world," she says, "something about being in a large ensemble and reading the same music has a way of bonding people which doesn't happen very often elsewhere."
Deep learning, inspirational collaborations, artistic excellence, and enduring friendships - that's what happens at NEC every Saturday!