When Natalie Sheeler was a kid, her father Joseph continuously put instruments in her hand to see what would stick.
“I started on the piano when I was six,” she said. “In fourth grade I added the cello and in sixth grade the trumpet. In middle school I got braces so I switched to low brass. I ended up playing the euphonium in college which is what my father and grandfather played.”
Growing up, her mother Millie had a similar influence on Natalie’s visual artistic abilities.
Art has long been an important part of Natalie’s life which is why she jumped at the chance to run the Falmouth Road Race to support the Arts Foundation this year. “I am raising money for something that’s near and dear to my heart,” she said. “Promoting the Arts Foundation is easy for me because the arts are something I do in my day-to-day life and something I’ve done my whole life.”
As the IB music teacher and band and choral director for Sturgis Charter Public School East, Natalie spends her time sharing the same lessons that she learned at a young age to the next generation — how the arts can shape one’s life for the better.
“I always say to my students that music is a perfect tool for community building,” she said. “The best way to enjoy it is to find people to play music with. Time and time again, this proves itself to them. …There is a power to making music with other people. It makes you want to do it again and again. It is special and not something that every subject in school can do.”
Music – and the arts – runs in her family. “I ended up following in my father’s footsteps,” Natalie said proudly. “I played in town bands with my father for years which was always a special connection for him and I.”
At family gatherings in her home state of Pennsylvania, she fondly recalled impromptu sessions of music with loved ones. “The arts bring people together in a really special way,” she said of what she learned from those experiences.
Just how deep do her musical roots go? She is related to composer Stephen Foster, dubbed “the father of American music,” who penned more than 200 songs, including “Oh! Susanna,” “Camptown Races,” and “My Old Kentucky Home.”
These days Natalie’s playing has taken a backseat to teaching and family obligations, though she coordinates the annual Tuba Christmas. Held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the event attracts roughly 100 tuba players, adorned in festive sweaters, who perform holiday favorites in front of the Millennium Tower in Boston.
Her passion for the arts will propel her when she runs her second straight Falmouth Road Race on August 18. “It is a hobby,” she said. “I started running when I was overseas because it is the cheapest, quickest, and easiest form of exercise.”
She completed her first major race in 2011 when she and her husband, Kenneth Brumm, ran a half marathon along the Great Wall of China. She spent five years in Shanghai as a music and visual arts teacher before landing her job at Sturgis. This fall will mark her 10th year at the Hyannis school.
It should come as no surprise that both Kenneth, who plays the drums and is the head chef at the New Seabury Country Club, and her son, Caleb, who plays the piano and loves to draw, have a deep appreciation for the arts.
For Natalie, the arts have been a constant thread in her world, from her most formative years to today, and in both her personal and professional life, making her an ideal fit to be a part of the Arts Foundation’s road race team.
Click this link to support Natalie Sheeler in this year’s Falmouth Road Race. All donations will go to strengthen the arts, supporting artists and arts organizations across all of Cape Cod.