About Becky Shaw | The earliest memories I have of me and the piano is at my grandparent’s house. My aunt & uncle would teach my sister and me songs on the piano. At age 6, my parent’s decided it was time to start developing this musical gift and I began to take piano lessons. Besides the inspiration of family, I received my first “outside” inspiration in the 3rd grade from the Miss America Pageant of all things. One of the contestants played “Fur Elise” for the talent portion of the contest and in that moment, I decided that I wanted to learn and perform that song. When I took the idea to my piano teacher, she was hesitant because of the challenge she thought it would be for me, but I insisted I was up for the challenge. Later that year, we celebrated as I got to perform Fur Elise in the year-end recital. Most of my growing up years was spent playing the piano in church. I also played for weddings and provided music at local banquets and dinners. By middle school, I had ventured into the accompaniment world and began to accompany the school chorus. In high school that expanded to not only accompanying my school chorus, but also the High School District Choir, Regional Choir and the Pennsylvania All-State choir. Asbury University brought the opportunity to continue my study & pursuit of music. Performance opportunities continued as I played in Chapel services, accompanied the Concert Choir & Chorale, and playing in recitals on campus. I also received the honor of being invited to compete in the Piano Honors Competition and won that competition twice. During my Junior year, I changed my major from Music Education to Music Theory & Composition. It was in that new endeavor, that the gift of composing was ignited in me. Given the shift in my musical focus, I accepted an invitation in my senior year to participate in the Composition Honors Competition (instead of piano) and was chosen the winner. It was certainly a new experience for me to be sitting in the audience listening to other people play music I had written. These days, I get to use my gifts at Quest Community Church, in Lexington, KY - an amazing community that is helping people find Christ! While I love playing at church, I’d never thought much about doing it professionally until about a year ago when I felt like God led me to open my own piano studio. Shaw Piano Studio (www.shawpianostudio.com) offers piano lessons, accompaniment services, and of course, composing and arranging music which led to my own CD projects. God gave me the gift of music and I love all the ways I’m getting to use it. I hope my gift will be a blessing to you in some way too. |
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