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Retiring piano teacher has been playing for 85 years
(by Sue Hoffman - January 12, 2011)
Retiring piano teacher has been playing for 85 years
By SUE HOFFMAN
After 85 years of playing piano, Elaine Shakley, of Russell, smiles about her occupation's unusual side effects.
"I have no fingerprints -- they're absolutely worn out," she said with a chuckle. But more than smoothed-out finger pads happened over the decades. For 67 years, she has ingrained a love of music into the hearts of students young and old.
Sitting at the Hyundai grand piano in her living room, the 88-year-old music educator and performer reminisced about the highlights of her career. She retired in December and will relocate this month near her daughter in Portland, Ind. She held a final recital for her piano students last month at United Methodist Church in Chagrin Falls, where she also performed several pieces, including Beethoven's "Pathetique" on piano and Handel's "Joy to the World" on the organ.
Until her retirement, she was teaching 60 students, ages 2 1/2 to 70, weekly. Since many students' mothers work, she said, "I taught over the dinner hour every day."
"I'd be ready for bed, but I couldn't call her because she was still teaching," said her daughter, Pam Van Siclen, of Maine, who was helping her mother pack last week.
"I love teaching," Mrs. Shakley said. "Music is the most powerful therapy there is." She told how she taught piano to a boy who was autistic. "He just got better and better, and he's getting all A's in college."
The spry, quick-witted and talented pianist said she plans to do more composing when she settles into her new home. She also enjoys visiting her daughters, six grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Born in Boswell, Pa., Mrs. Shakley started playing piano at age 3. She came from a musical family, she said. Her father played violin and her mother sang.
"When I was 4 years old, I stood up in church in Johnstown, Pa., and announced that I would be an organist," she said. Her prophecy was correct: She was organist for 28 years at Federated Church, in Chagrin Falls, and 10 years at United Methodist Church.
However, her career, which began in 1943, encompassed much more. She taught music in several public schools, including 11 years at Sands and Gurney schools in the Chagrin Falls District.
She began her teaching career in the Northfield schools and Cleveland Heights elementary schools from 1943 to 1947. While raising her three daughters, she continued to teach piano, and in 1959, she returned as music teacher and consultant to the Cleveland Heights schools, where she remained until 1972. She taught in the Chagrin Falls School District from 1972 to 1983 after she and her husband moved from Shaker Heights to Chagrin Falls.
Mrs. Shakley also was a faculty member at Cleveland State University, where she designed and taught the course "Expressive Arts."
A highlight of her career was when she became the first educational television teacher for WVIZ-TV in 1966. Her program "Sounds, Songs and Symbols" was telecast to local classrooms. Her first guest artist was Henry Mancini.
Mrs. Shakley founded the Shakley Suzuki Piano Studio in her home in 1983. She met Shinichi Suzuki in her travels to Japan three times and incorporated his nurturing teaching methods in her lessons.
She is president of the Cleveland Two Piano Club, which consists of members who play at homes with two pianos. She joked about one of her playing partners, who at 102 is 6 feet tall. "I'm 4 foot 7. When we bow, it's hilarious. Put us at two Steinways and we're OK."
Mrs. Shakley is also an active member and past president of the Cleveland Piano Teachers Association and Mu Phi Epsilon music fraternity, and has been active in the Cleveland Junior Fortnightly Musical Club.
She received a bachelor's degree in music from Heidelberg College in Tiffin, where she met her late husband, Glenn, and a master's degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She also earned 90 credits from workshops across the country.
"I believe in being exposed to as many philosophies as possible," she said about her training at programs ranging from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., to workshops in Seattle.
Memories abound as Mrs. Shakley flipped through a scrapbook in honor of her retirement. A photo of herself and her three young daughters playing organs at Higbee's Department Store in 1956 is among her treasures.
Her students have included 16 Paderewski medal winners, who played for judges 10 memorized pieces each year for 10 years.
Notes of appreciation from many of her students also are included in the book.
Adah Zhang, a senior at Orange High School, wrote, "Thank you for what you have given me: the gift of music. With you I have grown to love music, love being taught and love having you as a teacher. You have encouraged me and inspired me not only musically but in every respect."
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