Spotlight On Judy

<p style="text-align: center;">The Judy Short Story<br /> I 'm proud to be a Southern gal, born in Charleston, W.Va- to musically inclined parents. Mom said I could play songs on our piano that I had heard on the radio-at age 5. My first & only classical piano teacher was an elderly gentleman who walked miles to his student's homes & wore a black wool overcoat & fedora & carried an umbrella , regardless of the weather - He was happy to tell mom he discovered I had perfect pitch- which became a blessing throughout my musical career, giving me the ability to transpose "in my head"

While classical music was & is still my first love, my ability to play all types of music, gave me opportunities to became the accompanist for all school musical choirs and I became the organist at my church at age 14. At 15, I was hired by the Lowrey Organ Dealer in Charleston, our capitol city, to demonstrate & teach. They sponsored a bi-weekly, 30 minute TV spot on the ABC affiliate in Charleston- where I would play and demonstrate the organs. Quite a heady experience all this was for a teenager.

Having the opportunity & desire as a young person to do all this "fun playing" altered my mom's dreams of sending me to Juliard for classical music training, but I have enjoyed every minute of my musical experiences. Music was always a secondary career, but I've been an organist, pianist, choir member, director for churches & civic organisations throughout my life and did a lot of solo work at various hotels & clubs, played keyboard in small combos and am now serving as keyboardist at my local Methodist Church.

My primary career was in Mortgage Lending , retiring as VP of Residential Lending for the largest bank in Palm Beach County, Fla. in 1994. My husband, Larry & I lived there for 25 years with our 2 daughters, Vickie & Kelly. After Larry passed away in January 2013, I moved to Virginia to be near Vickie & her family. Kelly & her family live in Vermont.

My introduction to Yamaha arrangers was in 2009 with a PSR S900, which I still have. I always dreamed of playing piano with a Symphony Orchestra and the arranger let me fulfil this dream-multi-tracking- without leaving my living room.

I also have a Tyros 4 & Tyros 5- probably one keyboard too many, but when my love & partner, Barry comes to visit, we do enjoy jamming together. A highlight of my musical journey happened this year, when Barry and I got an opportunity to "gig" at a local restaurant while he was visiting with me- The first time either of us have done it for many years and we plan to do more of it.

It is a real privilege now, to be Co-Administrator & co-owner with Barry- who is the creative developer & brains of KP. Watching him personally bring this forum to life and manage it daily with his own brand of humour has been an experience I wouldn't have wanted to miss for the world.

My regards to all

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