Born in 1960. At the age of 11 he began his education at Fanfare St. Ceacilie in Helden, in the middle of the province Limburg. Because he already had long arms for his age, the musicians decided that he would be going to play the trombone. In the first three years there wasn't a trombone with slide available and so he had to play on a trombone with valves: an old army trombone (Mahillon) in a sack, free of bombs, and heavy as lead. The only way to possibly play the instrument was to put it onto your knees, in order to reach your mouth. Not very handy, but the pleasure of playing the trombone was nevertheless enormous.

At the age of 15 he received the first lessons on a slide trombone, and he even got himself a real trombone teacher then. Within the fanfare they created a trombone ensemble (from quartet to octet) that played various times and was therefore a good and nice way of education how to play in an ensemble.

In order to study psychology he moved to Nijmegen, in the province Gelderland. In 1983 he became principal trombonist at Colligium Musicum Carolinum, better known as Student Orchestra Nijmegen. At this orchestra he first played music in its classical way, and joined many concerts in the Netherlands, and some of them in foreign countries. A nice orchestra where he met his wife and got along with a lot of friends.

In 1986 and 1987 Piet van der Zandt joined a tour of the Dutch Student Orchestra conducted by Roland Kieft and Lucas Vis. This was an outstanding opportunity for an amateur musician to play in concerts at almost every great concert hall of the Netherlands, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. This was a very special experience.

Besides that he was, and still is a member of the Nijmeegs Koper Konsort, a brass ensemble with an quintet strength, expandable for more players. The Nijmeegs Koper Konsort gave concerts on radio and television, and they had several tours through France and Germany.

Nowadays he is a member of the Symphony Orchestra Nijmegen, en is a regular guest player in several orchestra's and ensembles in Nijmegen and its region. For a long time it was his wish to play in a trombone ensemble again. With lots of joy he now is a member of the Quispel trombone quartet. What can be more nice than a trombone? The answer is simple: four trombones!