Seated at the keyboard, Brian Mathias finishes the last notes of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. It’s not the first time he’s played it, and it probably won’t be the last—but it will be the most memorable.
He’s in Leipzig, Germany, at Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church), sitting at the Bach organ. Mathias may be separated from the venerated composer by more than 250 years of history, but, for this brief moment, the years melt away.
“Do you feel like Bach?” Mathias’ friend asks.
Mathias pauses.
During his study abroad program in Germany—often called Das Land der Dichter und Denker (the land of poets and thinkers)—he discovered not only a connection to the 18th-century composer, but also an affinity for the work of respected psychologist and researcher Stefan Koelsch of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences.
Determined to find a way to work for Koelsch—who had a spot for him, but no funding available—Mathias undertook a substantial scholarship application process, applying for numerous grants. He won three.
Mathias’ pick:
The German Chancellor Scholarship, called the “Rhodes Scholarship of Germany” by Robert Grathwol, who is the executive director of the foundation that makes the selections.
Mathias’ year of funded study will be—where else?—at the Max Planck Institute with Koelsch. Mathias was one of only 10 Americans awarded the scholarship. He was also the youngest recipient honored with this year’s grant, which is given to prospective leaders, ages 21 to 35, in the academic, economic, and political fields. Professionals such as architects, attorneys, and civil servants are among the other winners.
The 2007 graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s Bachelor of Humanities and Arts program will study the neurocognition of music. Put simply, it’s the study of how and where in the brain music is perceived and produced, something that should resonate with the piano and psychology double major.
