Meet Bingiee Shiu of Memorial High School Orchestra

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bingiee Shiu.

Bingiee, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started teaching at Memorial twenty five years ago. Since then – the program has tripled in size and we have won the Texas Honor Orchestra Competition, we have performed five times in Carnegie Hall, we have performed at Disney World and twice on the high seas (Caribbean) on a cruise ship.

The success here has been a collaboration of staff, hard-working students, parents who value arts in education and all the chemistry that holds these things together. Of course – music is a priority for us, but we also spend quite a bit of time teaching character – and I feel that we are known for that throughout the state

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This has been what many would call a dream job. The students here are motivated, they have good work ethics, they have been exposed to many cultures and even with the academic rigors of this campus – they value being a part of the team we have created.

And the parents have been supportive as well. We have a booster club that is active in raising funds so that I can focus on teaching. We have a culture at our school that supports. Several years ago – we were invited to perform in Chicago during final exam times. A few teachers stepped up and offered to administer the exams to our students on a Saturday and Sunday so that the students could get them done before we left and wouldn’t have to worry about them during our trip.

But not everything has been fun and games. As all teachers would say – the paperwork and the administrivia that we do can be cumbersome. There are so many hats we wear (accountant, trip planner, grade monitor, etc.) in addition to our teacher hat – these things can be overwhelming and distract us from what we’re supposed to be doing. But teaching, making a difference in the lives of the students makes these things worth all of it.

Memorial High School Orchestra – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am the Lead Conductor of the Memorial High School Orchestra. We have six orchestras in our program – which is considered large, especially for a school our size. The program has also grown in quality and we are respected across the state.

This orchestra has won the state championship twice and has performed five times in Carnegie Hall and other great places. But the thing that sets us apart is the culture of team and family that we have created here. We place a high value on creating relationships – both teacher to student and student to student. We want our Seniors and Freshmen interacting – in fact, we train the Seniors how to welcome the new students into the group. We have a character goal that we set and teach each year.

Most teachers only have one year to impact a student. I get four years – and I take advantage of that and use it to build their character. My handbook (memorialorchestra.org/info) states that we want each student to be a better musician in June than they were in August. That we will consider it a successful year when we see that the students are WILLING to improve his or her musical skills and show a work ethic that will BENEFIT the individual and the TEAM.

So it’s not only about individual improvement – it’s how they can collaborate to make the organization better. This is a life skill – they can use this stuff throughout the rest of their lives!

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
For me – the proudest moment is not in receiving an award. It’s not in a special performance. It’s when I’m trying to teach a concept to the musicians and they work hard to get what I want. We try it one more time and it happens – it sounds great – it works well. It’s different – they know they have reproduced what I want and they hear it – their eyes light up – they get it! To me – that’s success in teaching – and that makes me proud.

Contact Info:

• Website: MemorialOrchestra.org

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