Editorial — Striking a chord: Scholarship honors longtime music educator in Thousand Islands

“At TICS, over a 26-year career, she taught middle school and high school classroom music, conducted all vocal ensembles and served as the district’s coordinator of music. She directed school musicals and created the annual Dessert Theater and Silent Auction hosted by the Select Vocal Ensemble to fund trips, where it earned consistent ‘Superior’ and ‘Gold’ ratings from Quebec City to New York City. In the spring of 2019, the 27-member ensemble performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City,” according to a story published Feb. 18 by the Watertown Daily Times. “In 2015, Mrs. Ingerson was nominated for a Grammy when her accomplishments lifted her as a semifinalist for the annual Music Educator Award presented by the Recording Academy and the Grammy Foundation. She continues to be a private vocal coach and volunteers her musical skills for a variety of local productions. She has taught private voice lessons since 1982. Some of her younger students take piano and guitar lessons and she’s also given clarinet lessons — her first instrument. She played clarinet throughout college, played professionally and was a founding member of the Clayton Community Band, performing in its first 10 years.”

At a young age, Ingerson enhanced her music career with outside financial assistance. She won a Huntington Arts Scholarship when she was a 17-year-old senior at Northport High School on Long Island. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in music/vocal performance from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam.

And now Ingerson has inspired a program to help other music students pursue their dreams. While she prepared for retirement, members of her family launched a scholarship — the KAI (Kathryn Amore Ingerson) Music Education Fund — in her honor. Ingerson was informed of the scholarship during a family gathering last year on Mother’s Day.

“The goal of the KAI Music Education Fund is to provide financial support to students in Jefferson County who possess talent, potential and are committed to pursuing higher education in music. Startup funds from the family got the scholarship rolling, and Mrs. Ingerson held a Facebook fundraiser related to her September birthday. The deadline to apply for the 2023 scholarship is March 17. This year, one scholarship, and possibly two, will be given at $1,000 each. They hope the scholarships will grow to $2,500 in 2024 and $5,000 the following year,” the article reported. “The first recipients of the KAI Music Education Fund, awarded in 2022: Katelyn LaMarche Nier, General Brown Class of 2018, Jefferson Community College Class of 2022 and now a junior at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music; and Duncan Van Schaick, TICS Class of 2021, who is now a sophomore at Crane. Each scholarship in that first year was $500. Winners of this year’s KAI Music Education Fund scholarship will be notified by April 1. Scholarship recipients are expected to perform on the annual KAI Music Scholarship Recital program each spring. The inaugural recital is at 7 p.m. May 25 at the Clayton Opera House. The program will include last year’s and this year’s winners.”

Ingerson’s commitment to music education in Northern New York has been remarkable. We congratulate her on the influence she’s had on so many students and wish members of her family the best in their efforts to grow this scholarship even more.