TTU Clarinet Studio Teachers
Dr. David Shea, D. Mus. Professor of Clarinet
Hsiao-Ju Chen, Teaching Assistant (DMA)
Hamed Shadad, Teaching Assistant (DMA)
The goal of the clarinet program at Texas Tech University is to provide students with the best possible applied lesson experience and to inspire students to realize their full potential. New and innovative pedagogical approaches are constantly being developed to improve the training students receive in the studio.
One such innovative approach has been the development of a private lesson/group lesson hybrid teaching format that has proven to be highly effective in student productivity and achievement. In this system, students receive a traditional private lesson (30-45 minutes), and are also assigned to a group consisting of three or four students of similar ability (30 or 60 minutes). When combined, students receive more contact time with the professor and are able to engage in additional training that is not possible in a standard private lesson only format. Such activities include: group technique exercises, chamber music, sight reading, special studio topics, performing for one another and developing teaching and commentary skills.
Teaching assistants are used as extensions of the professor’s instruction. Although Texas Tech is a large program, the professor works with every student that is accepted. Teaching assistants may be used for a portion of the week’s instruction, depending on the ability of the student, student practice time or other circumstances. This time will depend on a student’s wishes, motivation and productivity.
Dr. David Shea, Biography
David Shea serves as Professor of Clarinet at Texas Tech University. He also serves as Principal Clarinetist for the Lubbock Symphony and Abilene Philharmonic Orchestras, and is on the summer music faculty at Rocky Ridge Summer Music in Estes Park, CO. Shea has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, France, Belgium, Germany, Brazil, Venezuela and Chile.
As a member of Trio Montecino, he has toured extensively and recorded two critically acclaimed CDs, Trio Montecino and Nuevo Sonido: Latin- American Trios. These recordings are available on the Eroica Classical Recordings label. The Trio performed and coach chamber music at the world renown Il Sisteme Youth Orchestra Program in Caracas, Venezuela along with concerts in Chile for the United States Embassy. They have also performed concerts and given master classes in France, Belgium and Germany as well as many chamber music series and universities throughout the United States.
Shea has performed on a number of conferences for the International Clarinet Association in Chicago, Columbus, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Kansas City, Austin and Lawrence (KS), as well as the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, Klarinetstage, Belgium and Vale Venito festival in Brazil. He has performed solo recitals and given master classes throughout the United States and South America. In addition to his solo and chamber music performances, Shea has played with the Indianapolis Symphony, Fort Wayne Symphony, Columbus Philharmonic, Champaign-Urbana Symphony and the Sinfonia de Camera. He has also been involved in numerous CD recording projects for Eroica Classical Recordings, Crystal, Naxos, Delos, Opus One, Indiana University Recordings and Hal Leonard Productions where he worked with such artists as Eugene Rousseau and the Indiana Clarinet Trio.
As a teacher, Shea has been invited to do master classes throughout the United States, South America and Europe. He has been invited on three different occasions to teach as a sabbatical replacement at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, and did a mini-residency at the University of Santiago in Chile. He has earned the Texas Tech President’s Excellence in Teaching Award and is a member of the Teaching Academy. Shea was a Creative and Performing Arts Fellow at the University of Illinois, an Indiana University Academic Fellow.
Dr. Shea has earned degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory (BM), Oberlin College (BA-Mathematics), the University of Illinois (MM) and Indiana University (DM). His teachers have been Howard Klug, Lawrence McDonald, Eli Eban, James Campbell and Ronald Phillips.
David Shea is a Buffet Crampon USA Performing Artist, performing on Tosca clarinets. He plays on a Brad Behn Epic mouthpiece, Vandoren V12 reeds and a Bonade Gold Plated ligature.