FHS Musician of the Month: Catherine Stark

This month's "Musician of the Month" at is senior Catherine Stark, the daughter of Pamela and Wallace Stark.  

Catherine currently plays flute and baritone saxophone. “I started out on fife, and then had one of those really funny looking curved head flutes meant for young players. When my arms grew enough to play on the uncurved head, I was thrilled,” she says.  

In the fourth grade after-school program, Catherine admired the saxophone, but says that playing the saxophone didn’t become a reality until fifth grade. “One thing led to another, and by freshman year, I was the proud owner of a new bari sax,” she says.  

Catherine's practice schedule is approximately ten hours per week, in addition to working part-time at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, sword dancing, participating on the Math Team at FHS, attending music festivals, and a demanding academic class load.

Catherine started music lessons at just three years old. In addition to her mother and the Falmouth school music teachers, several private teachers, namely Jan Elliot, Mary Sholkovitz, Joseph Bradley, and Berke McKelvey, have been her inspiration.

Catherine played in the jazz band at Morse Pond School, the Lawrence School, and in her sophomore year at the high school. She also played in the pit for the Falmouth Theater Guild’s production of Jekyll and Hyde, which she says “really opened my eyes to the world of professional musicians.”

Catherine says she will continue to have music as part of her life after high school. “There’s always a pep band in need of a bari sax. If I pursue science, as I intend, the skills that I have acquired throughout my musical life will continue to help me.” 

This star student recently received a First Place award at the Falmouth High School Science Fair, but she says she values the chance to break up her academic day with the fun that comes from playing music with others who share her love of music—and she has developed strong bonds with the other band kids.