Location: Houston, Texas
Education: Music, Abilene Christian University; MA in Conducting, Sam Houston State University
Bingiee Shiu had planned to become a physician like his father until he took a chemistry class. "I kept thinking, 'If I was concentrating this hard, spending this many hours each week in a (music) practice room, I'd really be enjoying it!'" he says.
So he dove enthusiastically into a music degree program, graduating in 1984 and following that with a master's in conducting from Sam Houston State University.
Today he directs the Memorial High School orchestra.
"People put Bingiee very high, if not first, as far as his skills and personality. He's very well respected in the community," says the founder and director of the American Festival for the Arts Conservatory Orchestra.
"I think my biggest challenge is to motivate students, to help kids realize how much they have, how much they can become," Bingiee says. "I want it to be something special."
His MHS orchestra is perennially one of the best in the Texas Music Educators' Association Honor Orchestra competition.
"My students are aware of my beliefs. They know of my activities in church involvement, so I don't have to say anything that labels me. I just teach it and do my best to live it. Isn't that how Christ wanted it?
We study music. But we also study integrity, honesty, responsibility, commitment - Christian values that will feed their souls for everyday life. I read to my classes, the kids write essays, we have discussions - all designed to immerse students in some of the ideals Christ taught.
God has given me an opportunity to build an oasis for my students. I know this aproach to teaching is not commonplace, but I believe it makes an enormous impact on our orchestra, and a difference in my students' lives."
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