By Shaelin Sweet
University Relations and Marketing
Shelly New has always moved to the beat of her own music, and fortunately for her Texas community, she’s sharing that music with the world.
“Music is absolutely everything to me, and it always has been,” said New. “As early as I can remember, I knew that I would grow up to be a musician.”
Now, New leads other budding musicians to success as associate director of McKinney Boyd High School’s orchestra program in McKinney, Texas.
“I found my passion for teaching while I was attending Fort Hays State University. I was extremely fortunate to work with the phenomenal educators in the Music Department.”
New’s passion for teaching shows in the success of her more than 200 students. Under her leadership, the six orchestras that make up McKinney Boyd’s program have earned numerous honors, including placing in the finals of the State Honor Orchestra competition, becoming a national winner in the 2017 Mark of Excellence competition and performing at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago.
“It has been an amazing experience for me as an orchestra director,” she said. “It’s truly my dream job.”
Before starting at McKinney Boyd, New taught for two years at Faubion Middle School. She previously taught in Hutchinson, where she earned the 2009 Young Teacher of the Year award from the Kansas American String Teachers Association.
“The beautiful thing about where I am now is that I get to work with wonderful kids at my day job, showing them the fulfillment that playing music can have in their lives. Then I get to use music as an outlet to create and have fun on the weekends.”
When she isn’t teaching, New plays fiddle and provides vocals for The Bodarks, an Americana string band.
“I started playing around town and absolutely fell in love with the genre of Americana music,” said New. “One day I happened upon a Craigslist ad wanting a female voice and auxiliary instrument for their Americana band. It seemed to be written just for me!”
Six years later, The Bodarks have released two albums and continue to play shows around Texas.
“We play everything from classic country to ‘90s grunge rock, all in our hootenanny style. I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished as a band, and I absolutely love getting to be a part of this in my free time.”
The Bodarks self-titled album and their second album, “Uprooted,” are available on iTunes, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube.
For all her success, New thanks her family and her alma mater.
“My time at FHSU truly took me to where I am today. Being in a small music department was so key to my development as a musician, and I feel that I grew and developed more because of it,” she said. “All of the department faculty knew all of the students, and we knew all of them. The Music Department is truly a family, and I cherished my time there so much.”
“At FHSU, we were all encouraged to be a part of everything as much as we could, and that helped us all grow together as a music family. I try to tell my high school students about this experience every day, because I think it is so important to consider an environment like FHSU as a college choice.”
New shares her love for music with her husband, Greg, who plays an upright bass in two local bands. They also have two sons who New says are “absolutely the joys of my life.”
“Not many musicians are fortunate enough to be able to do this for a living,” said New. “I am extremely grateful for where music has taken me.”