After taking Music 31, a music theory class, during the fall of his freshman year at Amherst, Mills became increasingly involved in music. He acted in only two shows at Amherst, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." Both shows were musicals. When he looks back, "most of what I've done at Amherst has been music," he said.
Life at the College
Mills sang in Concert Choir, a jazz ensemble group at the University of Massachusetts and the Zumbyes. He loved the jazz ensemble group because he worked with a group of people with a "very vigorous performance attitude."
But it is clear that Mills' experience with the Zumbyes stood out the most. "Oh, the Zumbyes," he sighed. "The Zumbyes are awesome." Singing in an a cappella group took up a lot of time. The group often performed as many as three times a week, including gigs in New York and Boston, but Mills enjoyed the whole experience. He likes the group not only musically, but also socially. "A lot of my closest guy friends are in the Zumbyes. Every year the whole dynamic changes, but it's always cool," he said. "I've learned a lot and had a lot of fun."
This year, Mills lived in a Cohan suite with five girls, a situation he described as "great." Melissa Gang '04, one of Mills' roommates, said the living arrangement "worked remarkably well." The group of girls and Mills grew very close and Mills invited all of them to his house in Maine over fall break.
"He's the one roommate who, when he sings in the shower, you don't want him to stop singing," said Gang. "And although [when] he dances he's a better dancer than the rest of us, he manages to share the spotlight well."
For Gang, meeting Mills spurred the development of a close friendship. "Chad is the most trustworthy, sincere friend I've had at Amherst," she said. "He's a great thinker, a phenomenally talented musician and has been a patient teacher to me on more than one occasion. Plus, he drives a convertible."
Academic changes
Academically, Mills also chose a different path than he anticipated he would. "When I came to Amherst, I had crazy ideas that I'd be a math major or something … but I didn't go that route," he said. He took intermediate and multivariable calculus during freshman year, but that was enough.
Mills turned to physics, which he said fascinated him. "[However,] I realized I was most interested in the out-there theoretical physics, that I wouldn't get to until much later. So, that led me to philosophy [instead]," he said, and eventually to a double major in philosophy and music.
As an honors project, Mills completed a music composition thesis in which he also performed. He wrote and sang in a song-cycle for voice, viola, cello and piano to the poems of Walt Whitman entitled "Whispers of Heavenly Death," which was "deeply moving" according to Assistant Professor of Music David Schneider. "Several parts of it held my attention and affected me emotionally in a way that I generally associate with works by professional composers," he said.
Life on the stage
Mills will perform with the Mount Washington Valley Theater Company before returning to Amherst as the graduate associate in the Choral Society. He will help conduct the choral groups, sing in Concert Choir and teach ear training for music theory classes.
"Chad was chosen by the music department because we believe in him," said Mallorie Chernin, director of the Choral Society. "His mock teaching showed his depth of knowledge of music theory and his ability to impart it to others."
Chernin is looking forward to working with Mills. "We have a pretty terrific multi-talented person for next year." After next year, Mills hopes to have a career in performance, probably in either opera or musical theater.