She fell in love with strings in elementary school, and she’s made a career of playing and teaching classical music

By Jim Flint

When Nancie Linn Shaw was a kid, she liked to watch Saturday morning cartoons on TV. Then one morning she switched channels and caught Leonard Berstein’s “Young People’s Concerts” program.

“It was love at first sight,” she said.

Watching the violin section, with their bows waving and dancing together, was enthralling.

“My mom probably got tired of hearing me say, ‘Mommy, I want to do that!’”

This was in the days before the Suzuki method for instructing young violinists was widespread in America. And her parents had no experience with orchestral music or instruments. So, Shaw had to wait until the fourth grade to get started.

Today she plays first violin for the Jefferson Baroque Orchestra and will be featured in its spring program, “Showcase: Trio Sonatas,” in three performances next weekend. The shows are set for 7 p.m. Friday, May 2, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Medford; 3 p.m. Saturday, May 3, at Newman United Methodist Church in Grants Pass; and 3 p.m. Sunday, May 4, at First United Methodist Church in Ashland.

Her first violin

Shaw says she’ll never forget the thrill of coming home with her first violin after enrolling in the grade school orchestra program.

“I’ll always be grateful for the difference public school music classes made in my life,” she said.

Falling in love with classical music and being exposed to two inspirational music teachers early on launched her on a trajectory of making music her life’s work.

Her Wichita, Kansas, high school orchestra teacher helped her understand that teaching music could be deeply meaningful. She was inspired by the quality of his instruction and the kindness he showed his students.

An experience in her junior year further cemented her commitment. She was accepted for the all-state orchestra, where she felt the thrill of playing in a large group of good musicians.

“It was electrifying,” she said. “The music reached emotional heights I’d never known before.”

It didn’t add up

She had considered majoring in math in college, but everything changed after the all-state orchestra experience.

“As beautiful as mathematics can be, I’d never gotten chills solving equations,” she said.

She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree at Wichita State University, and a master’s in violin performance at the University of Michigan.

During her studies and early career of performing and teaching, she enjoyed exploring a wide range of musical genres.

While married and raising a family, she found flexibility by working in a wide variety of positions — private teaching, K-12 orchestras, university lessons and performing in various ensembles.

These days she coaches young musicians, encouraging them to be unafraid to explore the dynamics of a piece.

“I try to help them lose the fear of being overtly very expressive, encouraging them to be unafraid to feel something and then play what they feel,” she said. “When they do more, the music is better, and so are the rewards of creating it.”

She became more intrigued by Baroque music after moving to Ashland in 1987, when her husband, Arthur Shaw, was hired as music director of the Rogue Valley Symphony.

At JBO from the beginning

“I got involved in the Jefferson Baroque Orchestra not long after Jim Rich founded it,” she said. “Baroque music wasn’t new to me, but authentic Baroque performance wasn’t ‘a thing’ when I was in college.”

Part of the attraction is the authenticity of the sound when the music is performed on period instruments, or at least on instruments that reasonably imitate the period sound.

“For example, gut strings lend themselves beautifully to simple open resonance, and the Baroque bow inherently creates lighter articulations,” she said.

Playing in a historically informed style is as important as the instruments.

“It’s essential for any period,” Shaw said. “Playing Mozart in a Romantic style would sound just as off-kilter as playing Vivaldi as if it were Beethoven.”

The Baroque composer with whom Shaw feels the deepest connection is Bach. She admires his harmonic structures and “the magnificence of his contrapuntal writing,” but finds the impact of his music far from too cerebral.

“I return to his solo sonatas for violin and his solo cello suites, which I play on my viola, over and over, and still find more depth every time I immerse myself in them.”

Collaboration is a joy she treasures.

“I love the exchange of ideas, verbally in rehearsals, and also the musical exchange as we play,” she said.

She urges people who haven’t heard much early music to check out the concerts the first weekend in May. Different from the typical JBO performance of the full orchestra, these concerts will present a number of trio sonatas. The trios actually feature four musicians, with Music Director Abigail Mace accompanying the trios on the harpsichord.

Shaw will play in four of the numbers, each by major composers who have distinct stylistic elements: Corelli, Handel, Telemann and Vivaldi. She loves the interplay of parts among the performers.

“Each piece is full of contrasting movements,” she said, “from elegant to vivacious, contemplative to dancelike.”

Three plus one

The Telemann she’ll be playing is different from the typical trio in scoring. Most trio sonatas feature two like treble instruments such as two flutes or two strings.

“This one is written for flute and viola, which is very interesting and appealing,” Shaw said.

Music is deeply meaningful to her, but she has pursued other interests with a passion as well. She and her family spent lengths of time every summer sailing the Salish Sea, an inland sea located along the Pacific Coast, straddling the border between British Columbia and Washington.

“My husband and I spent many years living aboard full time,” she said. “The challenges and fulfillments of logging over 36,000 miles of open-ocean sailing are astonishing.”

They don’t sail much anymore, but she still gets her fill of outdoor life, hiking and backpacking in Oregon and Northern California.

One thing is evident: Whether navigating the open sea or the intricate lines of Baroque music, Shaw brings the same spirit of curiosity and grace. Her journey, both musical and personal, continues to chart an inspiring course.

For more information about Jefferson Baroque Orchestra concerts, venue locations or to purchase tickets, visit jeffersonbaroque.org.

Jim Flint’s Curtain Call column publishes on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. Email Jim at [email protected].