By James Matthews
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
jmatthews@fortfrances.com
Music and science have always been a huge part of Anna Schwartz’s life.
Her father is a pharmacist in Fort Frances and her mother teaches high school chemistry online.
So that’s the science influence during her formative years.
“But they are both also amateur musicians,” she said.
Her father plays clarinet. Her mother plays the flute. And they both can tickle the ivories and carry sweet sounds vocally.
And that’s the musical side of Schwartz’s upbringing.
Influences during childhood leave impressions that often colour one’s future choices.
“So it always felt very natural for me to hold space for music and science in my life,” she said.
“I enjoyed studying science when I was younger, and I actually wanted to do all kinds of careers in the sciences, but ultimately knew that I wanted to do medicine by the time I was in high school.”
She said learning a piece of piano music is very similar in her mind to learning how a surgical procedure is performed, or studying a system of the body in great detail.
Schwartz, 25, has loved playing the piano since she was a little girl. She enjoyed the piano so much, in fact, that she got an undergraduate degree in music focused on choral education and piano performance at the Canadian Mennonite University (CMU).
“I’m not Mennonite so it was not the university I expected to go to,” Schwartz said.
“But I loved the small community there and I got opportunities throughout my degree that I never would have received at a larger institution.”
Schwartz has been living in Winnipeg the last number of years but will begin studying medicine this fall at NOSM University, formerly known as the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, in Thunder Bay.
“One of the cool things about practicing medicine in Canada is that you can apply to medical school with any undergraduate degree, not just a bachelor of science, so I knew I could always do a music degree and then later on decide to do medicine,” she said.
CMU allowed her to explore multiple interests and afforded her a chance to do courses in both science and music.
“I had a mentor who drew a wonderful parallel for me between practicing medicine and conducting an orchestra,” Schwartz said.
“She noted that when you conduct an orchestra, you have to be listening for the smallest details. You also have to be paying attention to the bigger picture at hand.”
Changing how loud or soft certain instruments play in the moment dictates the entire experience of the music, she said.
“You also have to be an excellent communicator, and the same holds true of medicine,” she said. “You’re constantly looking at tiny details that will have an effect on the bigger picture and your job as a physician is to keep the big picture in mind while also holding tons and tons of tiny details in your head.”
