2008 Teacher of the Year: Shelley Reeves, NCTM

"Lately it occurs to me:
What a long strange trip it's been"-- Robert Hunter, The Grateful Dead

Shelley Reeves, nationally-certified teacher has been selected as the Massachusetts Music Teachers Association 2008 Teacher of the Year. Initially with plans to attend medical school, then a left turn into geology and science teaching, and an about face into music school, she finds herself astonished and honored to be recognized in the music profession.

She's been organizing student events for over thirty years, ranging from college bowl competitions, field trips, music festivals, and science research competitions. Since moving to Massachusetts, she's coordinated the Bay State Contest for MMTA, is a recital chair and a part of the mentoring committee for the New England Piano Teachers Association, has lead workshops for the Concord Area Music School Association and taught a music appreciation course for the Carlisle Council on Aging.

Shelley was the president of MMTA from 2004 to 2006 having previously been the membership chair from 2001 to 2002, and president-elect from 2002 to 2004. She is currently the immediate-past president, the webmaster and co-chair for the contest. She serves on the board of NEPTA, and is a charter member and past secretary of the Greater Lowell Music Teachers Association. In Pennsylvania, she was the president and treasurer of the Bucks County Association of Piano Teachers, and the director of development and secretary for the Northern Delaware Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association.

Teaching has been a passion since high school when she started tutoring chemistry. Later, she was an instructor in geological sciences for the University of Rochester University College. Upon graduating, she interned at the Franklin Instiute Science Museum in Philadelphia and subsequently became the manager of its outreach programs, the director of the Delaware Valley Science Fairs and established a mentoring program. Then she decided that, all-in-all, she'd rather be playing the piano, so left that career behind, enrolled at Temple University and was privileged to study with Alexander Fiorillo (one of Vladimir Horowitz's students). She emerged four years later, summa cum laude with a degree in Piano Pedagogy and Performance. She began teaching piano in her private studio, at the Academy of Community Music, Fort Washington, PA, and the Community Conservatory of Music in Doylestown, PA. She pulled up stakes in 2000, moved to Carlisle, MA and re-established her piano studio there.

In her spare time, Shelley cultivates 21 varieties of organic vegetables, competes in ballroom dancing, snorkels the great reefs of the world, and chases total eclipses of the sun!