Instructor of Class Piano & SSET 1
Phone: (239)590-7851
E-Mail: jbearden@fgcu.edu
Office: Music Mod. Room 103

Julie Bearden Shaffer holds a Bachelor of. Music degree in piano pedagogy (voice minor) from Shorter College and the Master of Music degree in Chamber Music and Accompanying from the University of Georgia where she held a Graduate Teaching Assistantship in Class Piano. Shaffer has taught on the music faculties of Truett-McConnell College, Parkland College, Edison College, the Conservatory of Central Illinois, the Oakbrook Academy of Music, and the Renaissance Academy of FGCU. 

Shaffer coaches, accompanies and performs with singers, instrumentalists, choirs and orchestras throughout the Southeast and Midwest. As a per-service player with the Naples Philharmonic since 2000, she has performed with vocalist Andrea Bocelli and numerous conductors at the Naples Philharmonic Center and in Miami and Tampa. Shaffer regularly accompanies vocal programs for the Naples Opera Society.

Shaffer appears throughout Southwest Florida with the Mountain Laurel Trio (flute, clarinet and piano) which she co-founded in 2004. The trio made their national debut at the National Flute Association Convention in San Diego in August 2005. At the University of Illinois, Shaffer accompanied the Youth Opera.Preparation.Education program under the direction of Nicolas Divirgilio. Shaffer can be heard with clarinetist Ivan Garcia on “Colors: The Music of James Stephenson.”

Shaffer’s Musical Directing credits include many productions for the Naples Players, regional professional productions, the University of Illinois Illini Union Board musicals and various musical theatre camps including the Illinois Summer Youth Music Musical Theatre camp.

As a ballet accompanist, Shaffer has improvised piano music for ballet classes and workshops including the University of Illinois Department of Dance, the Champaign-Urbana Park District Ballet Classes (RAD Syllabus), the Salt Creek ballet and the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago “Dancer’s Project”. 

Julie Bearden Shaffer is a member of Florida State Music Teachers Association where she has served on the local and district board of directors. In 2005, she co-chaired the FSMTA State Conference held on Marco Island, Florida. Professional memberships include the Mu Phi Epsilon International Music Fraternaty, the Steinway Society of Southwest Florida, the Naples Music Club and the National Federation of Music Clubs.

Shaffer maintains an active private teaching studio in Naples where many of her students are finalists and winners of vocal and piano competitions throughout Southwest Florida. Her Junior Music club, the Naples Notemakers, boasts several Superior ratings each year at the NFMC Junior Festival.

A native of Cartersville, Georgia, Shaffer is the Assistant Director of Music at Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church in Naples, Florida.